


I Thought You Didn't Dance?

by REDDuke62



Series: Don't Dance [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Arrow AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-09-17 09:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9314666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/REDDuke62/pseuds/REDDuke62
Summary: Felicity Smoak wasn't sure what to think when Thea Queen swept into her office with an invitation to the Annual Queen Family Christmas Charity Dinner and Auction.  She was going, but the night turns out differently than she expects.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very long one shot that started with a very simple scene that didn't fit in with any of my other stories. I have divided the story into two parts, but am posting both together.

Felicity Smoak looked herself over one more time in the full length mirror, twisting her torso back and forth. The deep red party dress that she had picked out a week ago was no longer the focus of her thoughts, however. For the hundredth time in the last week, she wondered why she had gotten an invitation to the Annual Queen Family Christmas Dinner and Auction. Yes, she worked for Queen Consolidated as the head of Information Security. Yes, she was familiar with both the family patriarch, CEO Robert Queen, and his son, COO Oliver Queen. In fact, she found herself working with both men on a regular basis and she felt like both men respected her and appreciated her work.

Felicity was fairly confident that the older Queen appreciated her for her technical prowess, but she was equally sure that he was at best baffled by her rants about technology and security and her occasional rambles about a variety of other subjects. Fortunately, her expertise far outweighed her tendency to get off track. In the three years she had worked for QC, she had repeatedly stopped attempted breaches of the company network. She had also been the primary architect of one of the most secure arrays of network defenses in place at any major U.S. corporation and Robert Queen had both recognized and rewarded her for her efforts. She was unsure that any of that translated into an invite to the family charity auction, though.

Her relationship with Oliver Queen, however, was much harder to describe. She was fairly sure that Oliver liked her primarily for the spectacular rambles she managed to go on in his presence. The fact that half her rambles managed to be inappropriate for a business setting only added to his amusement. To say that he was highly entertained by her word vomits would be to vastly understate how he felt, she thought.

Felicity was also sure that he often called her into his office just to debate security topics or whatever his topic du jour happened to be; their spirited discussions often took on a life of their own and yet Felicity left his office feeling that she had bested him more often than not. The problem was that she wasn’t sure that Oliver ever tried to win their discussions; there were times that she felt that he just liked arguing with her regardless of the outcome. Who does that? That often led to her musing for long periods of time about whether Oliver ever actually did anything, operations-wise.

But despite his occasional antagonism of her professional opinions, Felicity felt as if Oliver respected and valued what she did for the company. Maybe even more than his father did. He often made sure that she was brought in on projects where attention to security was necessary. She also knew for a fact that he had defended her opinions and suggestions on multiple occasions when project leaders would have otherwise ignored them. She still wasn’t sure that that she would say that she was friends with Oliver Queen, but they did have a very good working relationship that transcended that which normally existed between a boss and his employees.

Of course, Felicity constantly fought to ignore the strong attraction that she felt towards Oliver. The fact that Oliver seemed to make sure that they had some form of interaction every day made it difficult to shove her attraction aside. She had long ago acknowledged that Oliver Queen was the most physically attractive man she had ever met: tall, incredibly fit, and handsome to a fault. But Felicity knew that her attraction to the man went far beyond his physicality. He had proven himself to be intensively loyal, unconsciously generous, intelligently business-minded, and he cared immensely about those close to him. She knew that she was included in that small group. Felicity wasn’t sure when she was first included, but she knew that she was. He had demonstrated the last part on a regular basis in the last year: making sure she didn’t get lost in her work, making sure that her fellow employees really understood how valuable her contributions were, even making sure that she stopped and had lunch on those days where she would have otherwise worked through her lunch break or making sure she left at a reasonable hour when she otherwise would have stayed working on a project, heedless of the lateness of the hour. Considering all that, she thought maybe she should consider him a friend; a good friend, even. Felicity shook her head to clear her thoughts. Musing about Oliver always brought a flush to her skin and raised her temperature just a bit. Now was so not the time for that.

Felicity still wasn’t sure that any of that work familiarity justified her being invited to the annual family-sponsored charity fundraiser. Moreover, her invitation had not come from either Robert or Oliver Queen; instead, it had been delivered in person by none other than Thea Queen. The youngest of the Queen family had swept into her office on a bright Tuesday morning sporting a curious and, in Felicity’s mind, mischievous smile. After introducing herself in a very regal and self-confident way, Thea had proceeded to lay a gold-embossed envelope on her desk and announced that Felicity was coming to the annual Queen Family Christmas Event and that her attendance would be greatly appreciated. Felicity immediately sensed that the way Thea said “greatly appreciated” meant that Felicity would be doing the family, or maybe even Thea herself, a favor and not that she would be committing a grave offense if she didn’t come. She wasn’t sure why, but Felicity quickly found herself agreeing to come to the event. She did ask Thea why she had been invited, though. Thea smirked momentarily before smiling an incredibly genuine smile, a smile very unlike the ones that Felicity frequently saw the young woman wearing in numerous paparazzi photographs in the local papers and online.

“Because you deserve it,” was the only explanation Thea offered before wishing her a “fabulous” rest of the day and then she was gone, exiting the office as quickly as she had appeared.

That sounded like a mystery and Felicity hated mysteries. Mysteries needed to be solved. So Felicity had subtly asked around at work and found that none of her peers were invited to this year’s event and very few had been invited in the past. The family did occasionally invite members of the company’s management to their events, but for the most part invitations to the fundraisers were limited to the wealthier inhabitants of Starling City. It’s not like she was going to be able to make any kind of significant donation, Felicity thought. She usually had donated in the past through the company’s charitable giving plan; still, she reasoned, an invite to the event was something else entirely.

So it was mostly with curiosity and just a little dread that she made sure one last time that her dress draped correctly and that it flattered her features without being tacky. She had chosen to accentuate the dress with gold accessories, including a subtle necklace of thin gold chains and golden dangly earrings in addition to the industrial bar in her upper left ear, and a set of gold heels which were a little higher than what she normally wore at work. She had even spent a little time every evening the past week walking around her apartment in the shoes so that she wouldn’t embarrass herself at the gala. With her final once over complete, Felicity left for the ballroom where the event was to be held.

Twenty minutes later she pulled her red Mini Cooper up to the entrance of the fundraiser. She was relatively early and there was a single car in front of her. A valet drove the car off and a thin young man waved her forward. The young man popped up next to her door and opened it for her, barely giving her time to put the car in park.

“Good evening, miss,” he said in a voice that seemed a little high even for his skinny physique when he opened her door.

He stood patiently waiting for her to get out of the car. She took her time, wanting to make sure that she didn’t embarrass herself. The dress she was wearing came to her knees, so she wasn’t worried about any awkward wardrobe malfunctions, but she wasn’t used to standing up with this pair of heels and she didn’t want to trip or misstep and end up on the pavement. Once she placed her feet on the ground, the young man actually shifted around in front of her and offered his hand. She was a little surprised at the ease with which he handled the situation given his apparent age, but then again, she really didn’t have anything with which to compare her current experience. Maybe all valets were this smooth, but she wouldn’t know. She tended to avoid valet services … well, actually she tended to avoid going to places expensive enough to have valet service, but tonight she decided to go with the flow.

The young man helped her to gain her balance, smiled shyly, and gestured towards the main door, sensing that Felicity might need a little extra direction.

“The main entrance is right over there. There’s a cloak room to the left. There’ll be a man standing at the entrance to the ballroom to help guide you.” He smiled at her again as he finished his instructions.

“Oh, okay. Well, thank you,” – a quick glance at the name tag on his surprisingly well-fitted jacket – “…Scott . You’ve been very helpful.”

“My pleasure, miss.”

Felicity turned and walked to the entrance of the Cyrus and Eleanor Queen Ballroom. The building was a majestic old edifice. The prominent cornerstone proclaimed that it had been built in 1892, and while the architecture screamed of a style a hundred years old, the building itself was spectacularly preserved. Before receiving the invitation, Felicity had been unaware of the building’s existence. Her curious nature had led her to do a little research that revealed that the building had been financed by Oliver Queen’s great-great-grandfather Cyrus Queen. The old man had been a founder of Starling City and the Starling Ballroom had been his main contribution to the city’s cultural scene. His grandson Otto had been responsible for renaming the building after his grandparents.

The marble steps leading up to the entrance were wide and Felicity kept a light touch on the handrail to help guide herself as she ascended the stairs. Her practice with the shoes hadn’t included steps, she realized, but she was again comforted by how well they went with the dress, and well, how great they made her legs look. Sometimes, a little discomfort was well worth the effect.

Valet Scott’s brief instructions were on the mark as Felicity easily found the cloak room – she supposed that the existence of a cloak room was another sign of how old the building was – and checked her coat. Feeling ever more comfortable in the heels, she turned and made her way to the entrance of the ballroom itself. As promised, an older gentleman in a well-appointed blue suit and holding a clipboard was verifying the names of the attendees. She realized as she got close that she probably should have pulled out the folded invitation she had tucked into her clutch at the last minute, but before she could even open the gold bag, the man acknowledged her.

“So nice to see you this evening, Miss Smoak. The Queens are glad you could join us.”

Felicity raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked right and left. She was pretty sure he was not greeting everyone by name. “You know who I am?”

“Of course, miss. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Uh…” It took Felicity a second to realize that her mouth was probably hanging open and she clamped it shut, before finally saying, “I don’t think so.” There was a pause and then she finished with “Thank you?” although it came out sounding more like a question than a statement.

The man smiled. “I’m Steven Rosenthal. If there is anything I can help you with this evening, Miss Smoak, please let me know. Let me give you a rundown of the ballroom. On your left is the silent auction area. There are instructions on each table for the bidding process. Liquid refreshments are located towards the front of the room on the left as well. Drinks are, of course, complimentary. There are hors d’oeuvre stations on both sides of the ballroom. There will be dancing throughout the evening, although the orchestra will take some time off during the latter half of dinner. The dining area is situated along the right side of the ballroom. You will be sitting at …” Rosenthal pulled up the clipboard and glanced at it for a second. “Ah, yes, you are sitting with the younger Queens at table number 2. It is in the front on the inside.”

Felicity was a little overwhelmed with all the information, but she managed to focus long enough to again thank Mr. Rosenthal for his help before moving on into the ballroom. Upon entering the ballroom, she moved just far enough out of the main walkway to stop and take in the decorations. The room was lit almost solely by decorative lights. White Christmas lights were seemingly used everywhere: on the several Christmas trees situated around the room, woven into the garland used as accents all over, and even as illumination for the several silent auction tables arranged along one side of the room. Even the dining tables’ centerpieces consisted of tall hurricane lamps filled with strands of light. The only other source of illumination came from the dimmed ornate sconces that lined the wall of the huge chamber. The ballroom itself seemed vast, and while the details on the upper reaches of the room were lost in shadows, Felicity could make out that the ceiling was covered with intricate decorative designs. When she dropped her eyes back down, she realized that each of the Christmas trees were decorated in a subdued, but classic style; each tree sported a variety of traditionally styled ornaments of all the same color and theme, but the themes and colors varied from tree to tree. Felicity especially liked a medium blue tree that sat between the bar and the area where the chamber orchestra sat and a deep red tree that sat next to the first of the auction tables. All in all, Felicity thought that the room’s decor was suitably classy, entirely appropriate for the nature of the evening’s festivities.

Having gotten her bearings, Felicity started to make her way over to the bar, deciding that a glass of wine would help soothe the slight anxiety she still felt. The orchestra was playing older, slower tunes that made Felicity feel like she was listening to one of those music programs that her Nana watched on television. The music was comfortable and unobtrusive, mostly instrumental versions of older Christmas hymns and carols, with newer songs occasionally mixed in. There were a few people already dancing, but it appeared to be mostly older couples. Felicity continued to glance around as she walked to the bar, noticing that the items in the silent auction were an eclectic mix of exotic and extravagant, with the occasional practical item appearing as well. She might have to look those over in a little bit, she decided.

As she looked over the rest of the room, she saw a couple of people she knew from work. As she had figured, they were members of senior management. She smiled fondly at seeing Walter Steele talking earnestly with a couple of QC investors. Walter had been one of the first people to recognize Felicity’s contributions to the company and always championed her when she needed it. There were also several people among Starling City’s movers and shakers: the Mayor and a couple of city council members, the heads of a couple of major industries and a lot of the social elite. Felicity also noticed that there were several seemingly unaccompanied young women and she suspected that a few of them had dated Oliver Queen at some point. For some reason, the thought that they were here early in order to scout out eligible bachelors caused her to giggle quietly to herself.

It took a minute, but she finally spotted Oliver standing in the area between the orchestra platform and the dining tables. As always, she was amazed at how good Oliver looked in a suit. The light grey designer suit was tailored perfectly, showcasing his broad shoulders and muscular upper body. The slacks draped perfectly, hinting at the strength in his legs. For about the thousandth time, Felicity wondered when the man had time to keep in as good a shape as he did. His suit was completed with his traditional white shirt and tonight he had a blue tie that mirrored exactly the blue in his eyes. She unconsciously took a deep breath at the sight of him. She kind of hated that after all the time she had known him, he still affected her so easily. It was only then that she noticed that he was talking to a woman who appeared to be about his age.

She was tall and beautiful; all long legs in a skirt that was at least three inches shorter than Felicity’s and tight. The silk top of the dress hugged her upper body, accentuating everything. Her dark hair and makeup were perfect. She was exactly the type of woman that Felicity had often heard that Oliver liked; well, at least when he was younger and was primarily known for his bad boy exploits. The Oliver that she knew and worked with rarely made news, paparazzi aided or not, so she figured that the womanizing ways of his youth were no longer his thing. That didn’t necessarily mean that his taste in women had changed, she thought.

The woman he was talking to was obviously trying to convince him of something, but he had on a polite smile and was periodically shaking his head as if he were declining her invitation. Felicity found the sight of Oliver Queen refusing an attractive woman anything a fairly amusing sight, causing her to giggle quietly again. Something about Oliver acting uncomfortable around a woman, any woman, just struck her as funny.

Oliver finally looked away from the woman for a minute, chancing to look directly where Felicity was walking and catching her with the amused smile on her face. Felicity could see the moment he recognized her by the look in his eyes and by the more genuine smile that graced his face a second later. He turned back to the woman and briefly said something before turning away. He rather purposefully started toward the bar and Felicity continued making her own way in that direction as well. She could feel her eyebrow raise in question of his actions, but decided she didn’t care. She could see out of the corner of her eye that the leggy brunette had turned to follow Oliver and the pout on the woman’s face was something to behold. The look was even better than Oliver’s ill-concealed sour expression as he had been listening to her a couple of minutes earlier.

Felicity reached the drink station first and after a quick glance at the wine list asked for a glass of a particularly good Northern California red wine that she desperately loved, but never bought for herself. She could feel Oliver when he stepped up behind her, his muscular chest almost touching her bare upper back. Despite the man’s suit jacket and shirt, she swore she could feel the heat of his body. After a couple of seconds, she could feel his body shift a bit to the side and his hand come to rest on her lower back; she felt both relieved and yet disappointed that his hand was touching her where the dress covered her. She suddenly realized that Oliver was a lot further into her personal space than she could ever remember him being, certainly a lot closer to her than he normally would get at work, even when they walked to one of the nearby cafes for lunch.

“Good evening, Ms. Smoak,” Oliver said, his voice warm and low, yet tentative. His voice sounded less confident than his physical actions; Felicity could hear a hint of uncertainty in his words. He hesitated for a beat before continuing, “You look absolutely beautiful.” The second part was said just loudly enough for her to hear and the softness of his voice caused her to shiver ever so slightly. She again noted that the whole situation was wildly incongruous to their normal relationship, but at the same time she was really enjoying the subtle pressure of his hand on the small of her back. There was a thrill to the moment that reminded her how big her crush on the man really was.

She took her glass of wine and stepped to the side. Oliver’s hand slid along her lower back before disconnecting. She immediately mourned the loss of contact, but just barely managed to stop the small groan that threatened to escape. Instead she focused on Oliver’s face as he stepped up to the counter. The short hair and the several days of scruff that he perpetually wore had always worked for her for some reason, and she couldn’t drag her eyes away from his profile. Oliver asked the bartender for a whiskey before turning to look at her again. A small smile played at his mouth and Felicity returned the smile.

“I am really happy to see that your family brought out the good wine for the evening,” Felicity said, gesturing slightly with her glass.

“What do you mean?” Oliver asked, confused. Felicity frowned in response to that, the spot in the middle of her forehead crinkling as a result.

“The wine list just happens to include my all-time favorite vintage. It’s incredibly good, but isn’t very common. And it’s not exactly cheap. There’s only two places in Starling that even carry it.”

Oliver reached over and grabbed the wine list, scanning down the page. “The Marston Family Cabernet?” he asked.

“Yes. I love this wine.” She was surprised that he picked out the right one from the list, and the hesitation in his voice as he responded, confused her further.

“Now that you’ve said something, I kind of remember you mentioning it once, but I’m not sure when. I’m glad we have it on the list, though.”

Felicity smiled, pushing away her confusion. “Me, too.”

Oliver looked at her for a second, obviously unsure of what to say next. Felicity saw his face shift into a small smile. “I’m glad you could make it tonight. Thea told me she had invited you, but she wasn’t sure that you would come.”

“I told her I would when she invited me. She didn’t believe me?”

“She felt sure that you would, but I explained that you’ve said in the past that you aren’t always comfortable at these types of events.”

Felicity couldn’t believe he remembered that, trying to figure how long ago they’d had that conversation. “Wait a minute. I told you that a year and a half ago. It was at that reception we went to for Kord Industries. Matter of fact, that’s when I mentioned that I really love the Marston. You remembered that stuff all this time?”

Oliver’s face flushed just a little, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he reached over and lightly took Felicity’s arm at the elbow and steered the two of them away from the bar. He momentarily leaned back to the bartender and Felicity thought she heard him tell the man to keep one bottle of the Marston available just for her, but she wasn’t sure.

“Yes, I remembered you telling me those things. I tend to remember most of what you tell me. I don’t always understand the tech stuff, but I remember most of it.” Oliver was smiling at her the same way he had when he first spotted her, but more openly pleased now. It thrilled her, but she really didn’t understand what it meant. But she was sure it meant something. Something big, she thought.

Her next thought caused her to frown in confusion again. “Did you tell Thea to invite me? How much were you involved in planning this evening?”

“It was all Thea’s idea to invite you.”

“How would she even know about me? I don’t think I had ever met her before she exploded into my office a week and a half ago.”

Oliver smirked. “Well, she might have heard your name mentioned occasionally during family dinners. Dad and I tend to talk about you and your brilliant contributions to the company on a regular basis.”

“What?”

“But to answer your second question, I had very little to do with the evening. My mother usually organizes these things, and I get involved only when I’m asked. Thea took a much bigger part in planning this year’s event. After she decided to invite you, she might have asked about what you would like to drink. And about what you would like on the menu. I made sure, by the way, that there is nothing with peanuts and nothing cooked with peanut oil.”

“Thank you, but I am still amazed that you remembered all of that.”

Oliver just shrugged.

Felicity smirked. “Now what’s this about my name coming up at your family dinners? Why in the world would I be a subject of conversation at all?”

“I told you. Dad and I both tend to mention you whenever the company comes up because it seems that you are always part of the success stories we end up telling. Mom is always interested in how and what the company is doing; Thea, not so much. My mother would really like to meet you this evening, by the way. She has told me repeatedly that you can’t leave until I bring you by her table.”

Felicity was immediate defensive. “Oliver! I’m not sure about that. You know that I tend to ramble in uncomfortable situations. I don’t think your mother is going to appreciate it if I go off on one of my rambles, especially the ones that stray into embarrassing tangents. I’m not sure your father even cares for them all that much. So, in summry, I would really prefer not to embarrass myself in front of Moira Queen, if at all possible.”

Oliver’s smile widened. “My father happens to love your rambles. The really spectacular ones are always mentioned at family dinners. Trust me, my mother is probably hoping for one when she meets you.”

Felicity shook her head in disbelief at that before something occurred to her. “Don’t you have a date that you should be getting back to?” Felicity waved in the general direction of the leggy brunette’s last location.

Oliver looked completely confused at that. “What? Date? I don’t have a date for this evening Felicity?”

“Oh.”

“Why did you think I had a date?”

“Well, the very pretty woman you were talking to just before coming over here looked very disappointed when you left her.”

“Ahhh. Cynthia.” Oliver waved his hand dismissively. “Cynthia Wilkerson is an old acquaintance of mine. She is definitely not my date. We went to high school together. Her father owns a pretty significant construction firm in Starling. She hadn’t seen me in a while and was trying to convince me to join her on the dance floor. I had to politely decline. Several times, as it turns out.”

“Not to be nosy or rude, but doesn’t she pretty much fit your type? Not that I know anything about your type. Well, I may have read somewhere one time that leggy brunettes were your type, but I just happened to pick that magazine up while waiting in line. I wasn’t purposely reading what they had to say about you. That would be creepy, you being my boss and all. Why aren’t you stopping me?” she finally said in exasperation, her eyes wide and looking directly at him.

“I told you, I never stop you when you go on one of your rambles. They’re one of my favorite things in the world.”

“Watching me embarrass myself is one of your favorite things? That’s … well, I’m not sure what that is, but it can’t be good. For me, anyways.”

Oliver laughed. “Felicity, you wouldn’t be you without the rambles.”

She nodded. “Oh, because that makes it so much better!. I’ve tried to stop, you know. I really have.”

Oliver smiled again. “Well, thank goodness you haven’t been successful yet.”

They were both silent for a minute, both taking the moment to sip their drinks. The excellent taste of the wine was mostly lost on her while Felicity desperately tried to figure out where this side of Oliver was coming from. It certainly felt like he was flirting with her and that was the one thing he never did in the office. At least she didn’t think he did. She was broken out of her musing when he spoke again.

“Have you looked at the silent auction items yet?”

“Only kind of glanced at them as I made my way to the wine. I was planning to circle back.”

“Can I join you?” Oliver asked her hopefully. “My sister Thea helped arrange for several of the items. I believe I heard her tell my mother that there needed to be some items that someone under the age of seventy would be interested in. I don’t think my mother was too impressed with that assessment, but she let Thea help anyway.”

The two of them turned and made their way toward the silent auction area, Oliver once again staying closer to Felicity than seemed necessary. Not that she was complaining, she told herself. In the nearly three years that she had known Oliver Queen, he had never indicated that he was interested in anything other than a professional relationship. Yes, he joked around with her and often times gave her a hard time, especially when her verbal reports veered off topic. But she had never felt like he was openly flirting with her or saw her as anything other than a trusted co-worker. So his actions in the past five minutes were way past confusing.

And then she veered back into thinking about how attractive she found him. When she had taken the job at Queen Consolidated, she had done quite a bit of research on the company and the Queen family. She quickly found that the man who would be her boss had seemingly left behind years of bad boy behavior and had stopped being the subject of almost daily tabloid stories. Instead, he was a dedicated businessman and sponsor of several charities, much like his parents. And in person, she found that he was quiet, sincere and fairly serious most of the time, in addition to being the man that his more recent public persona reflected. And now, with his sudden focus being so much physically closer to her, she realized that he was really throwing her for a loop tonight and she had spent less than ten minutes with him.

As soon as they stopped in front of the first table, she felt his hand come to rest on her back again, and his voice was soft in her ear. “Are you okay?”

She nodded her head in response, before finally saying “Yeah. I’m good.”

“You just seemed to go away for a minute.”

She smiled softly. “Just trying to take all of this in, Oliver. As you pointed out, events like this aren’t really my thing.”

“Could have fooled me,” he said lightly.

Unfortunately, the quiet moment between them was broken by an almost shrill “Ol-lieeee” coming from their right. Felicity could feel Oliver tense just through the small amount of contact afforded by his hand on her back. Both their heads turned to see another model-like female quickly descending on them. This woman had long red hair which cascaded halfway down her back. Her makeup was overly dramatic with a full range of dark colors around her eyes. The dress she wore was barely appropriate for a charity function such as this. Where Felicity’s dress only exposed the center of her back, the newcomer’s dress exposed her entire back and most of the sides of her torso. The hem fell high on her upper legs. The first thing that popped into Felicity’s mind is that she would be freezing if she wore a dress that exposed that much.

“Ollie Queen. It is wonderful to see you,” the woman said seductively. Well, Felicity assumed it was supposed to be seductive; it was so overdone that it was really just comical. “You never make the club scene anymore. And let me tell you, we’ve all missed you.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Oliver said. “That’s not my thing anymore, Janelle. And I really don’t miss it.” Felicity could tell that Oliver was holding back some frustration at the mention of his past reputation. She could feel his body stiffen more even as he maintained contact with her, his hand exerting more pressure on her back for a second before partially relaxing again.

“But Ollie, you were the king! It wasn’t a party without you. Even Tommy couldn’t keep up.” Janelle’s assertions were interspersed with a giggle that Felicity found to be really grating.

Felicity shifted her gaze from Janelle to Oliver and saw that he had his fake smile plastered on his face again. The same smile he was using with Cynthia Wilkerson not fifteen minutes earlier.

“Everything has its season, Janelle, and then we move on.”

“Oh. Well, how about a dance to remember old times.” She lowered her voice to an even more seductive pitch, all breathy. “You still know how to rock a suit. I can’t wait to run my hands all over it.” Janelle reached out to run a hand down the arm opposite where Felicity stood and Felicity had the sudden urge to slap Janelle’s hand away.

“I’ll have to pass, Janelle. Right now, Felicity and I are looking to see if there is anything we need to bid on. I have a feeling that we’ll be looking for a while.”

Felicity watched as Janelle finally turned to look at her, her lips turning up in a show of disdain at the sight of the shorter woman.

“Really, Ollie? You would rather spend time with her than dance with me.”

Felicity was stunned. Even during her awkward years as an always-younger-than-her-peers student in high school had she rarely seen such naked dismissiveness from someone.

“Aside from that fact that I don’t dance? Yes, absolutely. Now if you’ll excuse us…?” Oliver said, the fake smile never moving from his lips.

Janelle looked back and forth between the two of them a couple of times before she squared her shoulders and walked off, stomping her feet awkwardly in her high heels. Oliver’s eyes followed her for a second before he took his right hand, the one not still firmly seated on Felicity’s back, and scrubbed down over his face.

“Another old acquaintance?” Felicity asked, just a hint of teasing in her voice.

“I’m sorry.” Oliver shook his head in annoyance. “The funny thing is, the last time I tried to talk to Janelle, she wouldn’t give me the time of day.” Felicity felt sorry for Oliver all of sudden. He obviously struggled with escaping his past at times. He smiled a little ruefully at her and said, “Hopefully, there’ll be no more of that.”

“You don’t have to spend all your time with me, Oliver.” Felicity said, afraid that he thought that he needed to spend the evening with her for some reason.

“Trust me, Felicity, when I say that there is no one I would rather spend my time with.”

Once she got over her surprise at that statement, she said, “Aren’t you supposed to be mingling or something?” She leaned closer to him and whispered, “You chaperoning me around isn’t going to increase the size of my donation.”

He looked at her, complete shock on his face for just a moment, before pulling his hand away from her back. She again felt a sense of loss once he was no longer touching her. His voice was soft as he explained, “You weren’t invited because you were expected to make a donation. You were invited because you deserve to be here.” He started to say something else then thought better of it. “Please just enjoy the evening. I would like to spend the time with you, but if you are uncomfortable with that, you need to tell me and I will leave you alone.”

When she looked at his face, he seemed crestfallen. Had she somehow hurt his feelings?

Felicity reached out and laid her hand on his arm. “Honestly, Oliver, there’s no one here that I would rather spend the evening with either. Even if I knew some of these people, I would choose to spend the time with you. I just didn’t want you to feel obligated or something.”

His face showed his relief at her words. He finally chuckled briefly. “Let’s just see if my sister managed to find something either one of us would be interested in bidding on.”

Felicity nodded her agreement and the two of them turned their attention to the table in front of them. There were ten tables stretched around the front corner of the ballroom. Each table was covered with a rich, deep blue cloth; the cloth was draped over several rectangular shapes and the auction items were displayed randomly on the uneven surface. Each item on the table had a card next to it which described the item in some detail, but there was no mention of cost, Felicity noticed. There was also a pile of business-card-sized bid slips next to each item. The slip had the item number and name/description along with a place for the bidder’s name and bid. Each table also had a larger title card in the middle of the display indicating the theme of the table, although Felicity thought that the themes became quickly evident without the big hint.

The first table they came to was the Indulgence Table. Felicity laughed at seeing the title card, before glancing at Oliver. He was smiling at her, but there was a question in his gaze.

“You find the table funny?” he asked, his amusement clearly visible.

“Yeah, I suppose I do. I think I laughed because it’s the first table we came to …” she looked at all of the tables arrayed to the left, “but, I suppose this is really the last table, isn’t it?”

Oliver glanced at the setup and agreed, “Yes, I suppose it is. I’m willing to work backwards if you are?”

Felicity just smiled at him and turned back to the table. They looked over the various items and were astounded at most of them. There was an all-expenses-paid trip to a northern California winery for a weekend, an open-destination pair of tickets for anywhere in the U.S., and a weeklong stay at a timeshare on Catalina Island off the coast of L.A. Oliver was surprised to see a day long excursion on his family’s yacht, The Queen’s Gambit, among the offerings. Felicity questioned him about that, but he just said that he supposed it actually made sense because his family didn’t get to use the ship nearly as much as they had when he was younger.

Just when he thought that they were going to move onto the next table, Felicity softly “ooohed.” When he looked back, she had picked up the description card for a day trip for two to the most exclusive spa in Starling City. She was fairly intently reading the description of all the different treatments included during the visit. She finally placed the card back on the table, next to the small placard with the spa’s picture and logo.

“Sound interesting?” he asked.

She shrugged, “Yeah, I suppose it does. My mother and I always talked about going to a spa for something like that when I was growing up in Vegas. It was one of her ‘fancy dreams’ as she called them. By the time, I was old enough to do it, we had kind of grown apart. Then I left for MIT.”

“So you never got to go?”

“No.” Felicity hoped that Oliver couldn’t hear the undercurrent of regret in her voice.

“Does your mom still live in Vegas?”

Felicity turned to look at him again. “Yes. Why?”

“I was curious. You’ve never really mentioned your family.”

“I know, it’s just that my mother and I still don’t always see eye to eye, and well,” there was a long hesitation, “I haven’t seen my father since he walked out when I was seven.”

Oliver’s thumb immediately started rubbing a soft circle on the skin on her lower back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ask about something I shouldn’t have.”

“It’s okay. Oliver. Honestly, it doesn’t impact me much anymore.” With that she turned to move to the next table. Oliver reached down and quickly took a card for the day spa trip, slipping it into the pocket of his jacket.

They comfortably moved through the other nine tables of auction items. Some tables they moved through quickly, neither one finding much of interest. A couple of other tables, they lingered, looking over the items with greater detail. Oliver remarked that he was surprised when Felicity stayed at the jewelry table for longer than he expected. When she looked at him with a non-verbal question in her eyes, he fessed up that he noticed that she tended to wear a lot of different earrings and necklaces, but almost never wore rings or bracelets. She was surprised at his observation, and boldly asked if he had a favorite. He hesitated for a second, then told her that he really enjoyed the dangly pair of gold earrings that looked like fern leaves. She laughed at that. He then further surprised her by correctly guessing that she didn’t wear rings or bracelets because they would interfere when she was typing.

She finally said, “I’m both impressed and a little scared that you have paid that much attention, Mr. Queen.”

She could tell he started to say something a couple of times before stopping himself. He finally shrugged, and said, “I try to be observant about a lot of things, Felicity.”

Then, in an attempt to redirect the conversation, he asked her, “So do you see anything on the table that appeals to you?”

Her brain was still focused on the determining the implications of Oliver knowing so much about her jewelry preferences, even as she looked over the table’s offerings. There were a couple of shopping sprees at Starling City’s high end jewelry stores as well as several very ostentatious and expensive pieces of jewelry available. None of those appealed to Felicity, but then she noticed that there were a few more reasonable pieces located down low in the center front of the table. They were placed low and therefore didn’t distract from the more expensive offerings. Felicity finally noticed a bracelet and earring set that was really pretty in an understated manner. She picked up the box and looked at the pieces more closely. Replacing the box on the table, she looked at Oliver and said with a smile, “This set is very much my style.”

“It’s very pretty. Are you going to bid on it?”

“I might, but I don’t know. Do you have to bid a lot?”

“No, you bid what you think the item is worth. If you end up as the highest bidder, then you get it.”

“Oh, right. Well, maybe I’ll come back and bid. I know that is a fairly expensive set even though it isn’t anywhere as much as the pieces up here.” She waved at the diamond filled necklaces, bracelets and earrings arranged higher on the table. Then she turned to move on again. Oliver again swiped a bid card for the jewelry that she had liked.

The only table that Oliver spent much time looking at was the Sports table. Felicity had been vaguely aware that he was somewhat of a sports fan. He had a large framed picture of the stadium where the Starling City Rockets baseball team played hanging on the one solid wall in his office, along with a signed Rockets jersey. So she wasn’t surprised when he picked up a bid slip for the use of one of the corporate boxes in the stadium for a game in the upcoming season. She watched with some amusement as he quickly signed his name in the neat and practical handwriting she had become familiar with through thousands of notes he passed to her during meetings on projects over the last couple of years. He then spent a couple of minutes obviously calculating how much he wanted to bid on the game package. He put down a number which she was sure was way beyond the actual cost of the box rental and dropped the slip in the box on the table.

When he looked back at her, she simply said, “Wow. So who are you going to take?”

“Oh, I’ll donate the trip to the Boys and Girls Club located in the Glades. I usually try to take the regulars at the club once a season anyway, but this way all of the money goes to a good cause and not just the Rockets.”

Felicity smiled at him again, more than a little impressed, and said, “You’re a good man, Oliver,” patting his chest before she turned to move on again.

They moved quickly through another couple of tables, again finding little to grab their interest. The next to last table, though, presented some items of interest. The table was full of more holiday-themed items, both secular and faith-related. There was a medium-sized crucifix that Felicity felt was respectful of its deeper meaning. There were a few more Christmasy items, including each of the decorated trees which currently decorated the ballroom. She briefly thought about bidding on the couple of trees that had caught her eye, before she pictured the tree occupying the somewhat limited space in her townhouse. Then her eyes found the Menorah off to the side of the table. Unlike many of the Jewish devices she had seen over the years, this one really spoke to her. It was made of a sturdy-looking metal, bronzed in a very similar fashion to the crucifix on the other side of the table.

Before she could even reach for the description card, Oliver said to her, “The menorah is beautiful,” his voice soft and respectful.

She nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“I assume you have one at home?” he asked.

“Yes, I do. My mother gave it to me when I left for college. Observing Hanukkah was something that we always agreed upon and did together. She bought me a simple one that was functional when I went to MIT, but I’ve always loved the one she had at home. It is similar to this one, but this is just … beautiful. I don’t know how else to describe it. Most of the really nice ones I’ve seen over the years are a little too decorative, you know? I’ve never thought a menorah should be showy.”

“Are you going to bid on it?”

“No. I’d love to, but I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t bid enough. And I feel like this deserves to have a worthy bid placed on it.” She turned to look at him. “Is that weird?”

“No, of course not. Take it from someone who has been very foolish in his approach to money at times, I have always admired your restraint. I’ve tried to adopt your approach a lot over the last couple of years, as a matter of fact.”

Felicity again looked at Oliver like he was someone she had just met. “You’ve adopted my cheapness?”

He nodded. “Frugalness is a better description. Do you remember the first time we worked on department budgets together? It was very obvious to me that you had grown up with a much greater understanding of the value of money than I had. It was the first time I understood that thinking through all your expenditures was a more effective method than just throwing money at things, especially in business. But I understood that it really could apply to everything. You have always made me a better businessman.”

“Oliver?” She doesn’t really know what she is asking, so his name is the only thing that slips out. She can feel her eyes getting misty when he changed the mood.

“If you’re not going to bid, let’s go check our seats at our table. Oh, and I’ll introduce you to my mother. I saw my parents come in about fifteen minutes ago.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continue on to the second half...


	2. I Thought You Didn't Dance? (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The evening continues...

_“If you’re not going to bid, let’s go check our seats at our table. Oh, and I’ll introduce you to my mother. I saw my parents come in about fifteen minutes ago.”_

Despite her earlier concerns about meeting Oliver’s mother, the change in subject allowed Felicity to relax. She nodded, a smile slipping onto her face again. She watched, surprised, as Oliver reached over and grabbed a bid slip for the menorah, but he quickly slipped it into his pocket and reached for her hand. She decided not to question him and instead took his hand as well, ignoring the sudden question of what that meant as well.

Oliver started around the edge of the dance floor when he was accosted by yet another woman. Felicity was beginning to get annoyed by the interruptions, but at the same time, she was kind of amused as Oliver struggled to maintain his cool. Like Janelle what’s-her-name before her, this woman completely ignored Felicity, her focus solely on Oliver. This was despite the fact that Oliver continued to firmly hold Felicity’s left hand with his right. Felicity felt him momentarily squeeze her hand as he came to a stop; she wondered if it was meant for her or for him.

Felicity decided that this woman wasn’t in the same league as Cynthia and Janelle. She wasn’t quite the willowy, leggy model type that the other two women had been. She was still tall and beautiful and Felicity guessed that she was again about the same age as Oliver. She was dressed a lot more appropriately than Janelle had been, and the dress was a more mature look than Cynthia sported. Still, the designer dress the newest woman wore had obviously been tailored specifically for her and clearly displayed the fact that she had kept herself in shape.

“Oliver Queen. As I live and breathe, you simply get finer and finer.”

Oh, good, Felicity thought, this one was going to use her seductive voice on Oliver, too. Felicity felt a lot more confident that Oliver wasn’t buying it this time around, though.

“I was hoping I’d get to see you tonight. It’s long past time you and I caught up on each other’s lives.” She started to reach for Oliver and seemed for the first time to realize that he was not alone. Felicity shifted her gaze from the woman’s hand to Oliver’s face and almost laughed as his fake smile turned into an obvious grimace.

He turned to Felicity. “Felicity, I like to introduce another old acquaintance of mine, Clarice Montgomery. Clarice, this is a very good friend of mine, Felicity Smoak. I was just taking her over to introduce her to my mother, so you’ll have to forgive me if I can’t really talk right now.”

The look on Clarice Montgomery’s face was priceless. She had started to say something, but was obviously shocked enough that she became speechless, her mouth literally hanging open. She was probably offended that Oliver had introduced Felicity first. She was no doubt offended Oliver had called her an ‘old’ acquaintance. She was absolutely offended that he had dismissed her so readily.

Oliver decided that Clarice wasn’t going to get the chance to respond because he gently tugged on Felicity’s hand, pulling her off in the direction of the dining area. Felicity turned to the other woman and smiled sweetly. “It was nice meeting you. Maybe we’ll get a chance to speak later.” As Oliver pulled her away, she kind of regretted saying it, but then decided that she deserved to dish out a little snark of her own.

Oliver was obviously long past thinking about the short interaction as he confidently led her forward. As they begin the walk around the partially full dance floor, he leaned over to her. “Do you want another glass of wine?” He had already had a second glass brought to her while they perused the auction items.

She looked at the still half full glass in her hand and told him, “No, I’m good for now. Are you trying to get me drunk, Mr. Queen?”

Oliver was unreadable for the briefest of moments, before he smiled at her. “Not at all. Just trying to make sure that you are enjoying yourself. I believe you told me one time that wine always makes things better.”

Felicity just shook her head, no longer surprised by the things he remembered. It did cross her mind that she was going to have to be a little more guarded around him since he seemed to soak up everything she said and did. But then she decided that maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

They continued on their way around the floor before Oliver stopped them briefly in front of the hors d’oeuvre spread near the back of the dinner tables. She looked over the various choices, marveling at the diverse selection before taking a couple of mini-quiches and several cheese cubes. At the last second, she reached for and took three of the chocolate covered strawberries as well. Oliver laughed beside her, his own plate filled with the cheese and several mini-sausages.

They continued along the several rows of round dinner tables until they reached the front of the room. Just as Mr. Rosenthal had said, there were name tents for both her and Oliver at Table #2; Oliver’s seat was situated just to her right. It looked as if Thea Queen would be sitting on her left. On Oliver’s right, there was a name tent for Tommy Merlyn. She couldn’t read the tent beyond that and furthermore couldn’t remember any current gossip on who Oliver’s best friend was dating. Not that she kept track of that kind of stuff, she reminded herself for some reason.

Oliver placed his hors d’oeuvre plate on the charger in front of his seat, then reached over and gently took Felicity’s plate from her, placing it in front of her seat. Felicity looked up at him and smirked. “You’re just a master of etiquette tonight, Mr. Queen.”

“I should hope so,” said a feminine voice on the other side of Oliver.

Oliver turned to look at the new arrival with a smile. “Mother, it is good to see you. We were just coming to find you.”

Oliver’s mother, Moira Queen, moved into view as Oliver took a step back. Oliver’s mother looked every bit as regal as Felicity had always imagined she would be. Her dark blonde hair was attractively styled and she wore a full length white gown which was tailored perfectly; her minimal accessories complementing the gown beautifully. Felicity wondered if the woman ever felt out of place; if her current appearance was any indication, the answer was a definite ‘no.’ Felicity then saw Robert Queen standing behind her, a smile on his face.

“Mother, at long last I would like to introduce Felicity Smoak. As you’ve no doubt heard Dad and I say over and over, Felicity is probably the smartest person at Queen Consolidated.”

“Probably? Really Oliver, you know better. I am the smartest person in the company.” It took a second for Felicity to catch up with what she had just said, and when she did, she sighed heavily and hung her head.

Oliver hesitated and then smiled, the smile quickly growing into a wide grin. He huffed a laugh before he continued. “Felicity Smoak, this is my mother, Moira Queen.”

The elegant older woman held out her hand to Felicity and the blonde took it. They shook briefly before Moira released first. “Felicity, I have long looked forward to meeting the woman who both my men are so taken with. And I look forward to getting a chance to know you personally, and not just through their stories.”

“You do? Really? After I just declared myself smarter than everyone at QC?” Felicity shook her head, knowing she looked bewildered, but quickly tried to school her expression and calm her nerves. “I look forward to that as well, Mrs. Queen.”

“Please, dear. I think you can call me Moira.”

“Oh, okay. Of course. Thank you.” Felicity valiantly tried to stop talking at that point. She looked to Oliver to see if he could shed some light on his mother’s declaration, but she was quickly distracted by the sound of another voice coming up behind Oliver. “Queen, this better be the girl I have heard so much about.”

They both turned to look at the newcomer and Felicity immediately recognized Tommy Merlyn. He was dressed in a tailored tuxedo and looked almost as dashing as Oliver, she thought. A elegant young woman had her hand looped through his arm on his right. She looked to be the same age as Oliver and Tommy and unlike Cynthia, Janelle and even Clarice, this woman looked like she absolutely belonged at events like this. Her gown was a shimmering golden hue and flattered her figure. It took Felicity a minute longer to recognize the other woman as Laurel Lance. Then it dawned on her: Laurel was Oliver’s ex and now she was dating his best friend.

“Hi, Tommy. Laurel. How are you both tonight?”

Oliver shook hands with Tommy then Laurel stepped up and gave him a small hug. When Laurel stepped back, Oliver turned to present Felicity to the newcomers, gently steering her around to face them, while keeping his mother in sight. Felicity marveled at how smooth Oliver was for just a second before refocusing on what he was saying.

“Felicity, these are my oldest and best friends, Laurel Lance and Tommy Merlyn. Laurel and Tommy, this is Felicity Smoak. She is the head of our Information Security Department at QC, and as she just pointed out to me,” he turned to smirk at her, “she is the smartest person working for the company.”

Felicity resisted the impulse to roll her eyes, instead looking at Laurel to see if she was uncomfortable with the situation. “It’s very nice to meet both of you.”

“You, too,” Laurel said warmly. She offered her hand to Felicity and the two women briefly shook.

“I was beginning to think Oliver was just making you up. I couldn’t imagine that anyone as great as he described would have anything to do with the big lunk. Now I’m not sure he was doing you justice,” Tommy said, his patented Tommy Merlyn grin on full display.

Felicity just managed to catch the end of Oliver’s eye roll at Tommy’s statement.

She grinned when Oliver turned back to her and said, “Laurel and Tommy are wonderful people. Unfortunately, you will not be allowed to spend any time with them, because they will immediately share information about me that you shouldn’t know. No one should, really.”

Laurel patted his shoulder as Tommy said, “You got that right, buddy. And the sharing will start as soon as we sit down.”

Oliver just groaned in response.

Moira chose that moment to reenter the conversation. “Laurel, Tommy. I’m glad to see you both could make it tonight.”

“Thank you as always for the invitation, Moira,” Laurel said.

“Yes, thank you,” Tommy added. My parents would have been here, but Dad had some crazy business trip to Europe that came up at the last moment and he dragged Mom with him.”

Before the conversation could get too deep, Oliver interjected. “Mom would you and Laurel entertain Felicity for a few minutes. I need to go catch Thea before she finishes up over at the auction. I should be right back.”

Moira just nodded her head once and said, “Of course, Oliver. We’ll be fine.”

As Oliver started to walk off, Felicity heard Tommy say, “Hey wait up, buddy. I’ll go with you.”

Moira gestured at the table and indicated to both Felicity and Laurel to sit. She herself pulled out the chair at Oliver’s place and sat down as well. Laurel gracefully lowered herself into her chair and Felicity tried to emulate the style of the other two women as she sat. She made it down onto her chair without incident, but something must have still broadcast her nervousness as Moira reached out to her, laying her hand on Felicity’s knee. Before the older woman could say anything, Robert Queen moved around behind her. He laid a hand on her shoulder and chuckled as he whispered to her to “relax,” before moving off to speak with someone he had just noticed.

Her attention was drawn back to Moira. “Robert is right, dear. You really should relax. You’re among friends.”

Felicity took a second to calm herself. “Thank you, Moira. As I told Oliver earlier, I’m just a little out of my comfort zone tonight.”

Laurel responded first. “If you’ve not been to a lot of these events, they can be a little overwhelming. The first time Oliver dragged me to a charity event, I tried to spend the entire evening either hiding in a corner or sitting quietly.”

“And then Oliver bumped into a waiter because he and Tommy were clowning around and you realized that there wasn’t nearly as much to worry about as you thought. Isn’t that right, dear?”

Laurel laughed. “Yeah, that kind of put things in perspective. Really, Felicity, just be yourself and enjoy the evening.”

“Thank you both,” Felicity said with a shy smile.

“So Felicity, Oliver is constantly talking about how much of an impact you make on the company security. How did you manage to get interested in computers?” Moira asked with genuine interest in her voice.

“Oh. I guess my early interest in technology came from my Dad. He worked with computers and was very willing to share when I started asking questions about it. I was seven when I built my first computer. With his help, of course.”

“Wow,” Laurel said, clearly impressed. “Where did you go to school?”

“MIT. I finished with dual Master’s degrees in Computer Science and Cyber Security.”

“Wait a minute. If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you? How long did it take you to finish school?” Laurel asked.

“Uhh. I’m twenty-three. I started college at sixteen,” Felicity said, a little sheepishly. “I did my undergrad degree in three years, and stayed another year to work on my Masters.

Even Moira looked impressed at this revelation.

“Well, that at least partially explains why Oliver and Robert value your input so much,” Moira said with a smile.

“I still can’t believe they even mention me away from the office. I’m just trying to do my job the best way I know how.”

“Well, the stories they tell certainly make you out to be a hero in their eyes. Oliver says that you have saved the company from cyber attacks several times.”

“Oh. I suppose that’s one way of putting it. I just like to think that the network defenses that I’ve developed have helped prevent hackers from getting into our network. Those guys are trying to breach company networks constantly.” Felicity shrugged as she finished.

In an effort to change the topic, Felicity looked at Laurel and commented, “Your gown is just gorgeous.”

“Thank you. I love yours as well.”

Felicity turned to compliment Moira on her gown as well, but found the older woman looking across the ballroom at something, or rather, someone. When Felicity followed the path of Moira’s gaze, she realized that Robert Queen was subtly gesturing to his wife. At the sound of Moira’s chair moving, Felicity looked back at the woman. She saw Moira roll her eyes at her husband as she said, “Ladies, please excuse me. Apparently duty calls elsewhere.”

Both Felicity and Laurel chuckled as Moira gracefully moved away from them and towards her husband who had resumed his conversation with another couple.

There was silence at the table for what seemed an incredibly long time, but was really just a few seconds. Felicity was furiously trying to think of another innocent topic to continue her conversation with Laurel when the other woman asked her, “So how long have you and Ollie been seeing each other?”

Felicity’s brain froze for a minute, the implication that she and Oliver had anything other than a platonic relationship still almost completely impossible to her, despite whatever was going on this evening.

“What? Oh, there’s no seeing each other going on. Well, except at work. We see each other all the time there. Daily. Because we have to. Well, part of the time we have to. Sometimes Oliver just shows up in my office. I usually suspect he’s bored and he likes bothering me. Then sometimes, he makes me travel all the way up to the executive floor so he can debate some stupid security topic with me. But business. Always business. Right?”

Laurel was outright laughing by the time Felicity was finished.

Felicity dropped her head down. “Oh, God. This is why I don’t go out in public. Well, out in public for nice events like this. Uggh.”

Felicity felt a hand on her knee again and when she looked up, Laurel had moved over to the chair next to Felicity. She still had a big smile on her face, but was no longer laughing.

“Felicity. Please relax. I wasn’t laughing at you.” She paused. “Okay, I was a little, but only because that was brilliant. I was more laughing at the fact that you think that your relationship with Ollie is platonic. I know Ollie better than almost anyone, and trust me when I say that man is completely in love with you.”

Felicity shook her head. “Laurel, I’m pretty sure that I would know if he was. He’s not. He’s never ever indicated that he considers me more than a friend. And probably just a work friend at that.”

Laurel looked at her with a critical eye for a few seconds. “Felicity, do you need to see Ollie every day as part of your job? Do you really think that he gets so bored that he has to come harass you for lack of anything better to do?”

“Uhhh … maybe?” Felicity responded, immediately not liking where Laurel was going with this.

“Let me put this another way. You know that Ollie and I have … some history. But in the entire time we were together, I never saw him look at me with the sappy expression that he just had when he looking at you. He may not have said anything. Yet. But that man is in love with you.”

Felicity was out and out flustered now. The thought that Oliver Queen’s ex-girlfriend would be telling her that he was in love with her was ludicrous. And while a little voice in the back of her head was screaming ‘Hallelujah’ over and over, the more rational parts of her brain that were actually still in control kept saying that Laurel was wrong. Apparently, the shouting match in her head was drowning out Laurel, because she finally realized that Laurel was still talking to her. Well, trying to get her attention.

“Felicity. Felicity!”

Felicity’s head snapped up to look at Laurel. The other woman looked a little concerned now.

“I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t mean to upset you. Please relax, ‘cause I really don’t want Ollie being mad at me because I’ve upset you.”

Somehow Felicity regained some internal balance. “I’m alright, Laurel. It’s just that I still really have trouble believing that Oliver has any interest in me. I’m so not his type.”

“Actually, I think you’re exactly his type.”

“Laurel, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m definitely not the leggy model type. And I’m not brunette, either. Isn’t that what Oliver goes for?” Felicity looked hard at Laurel and then realized what she’d just said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with being brunette and leggy. I have got to stop talking.”

Laurel laughed again. “Felicity, you need to understand something. While I may be brunette and leggy just like all the other women Ollie used to chase, I would like to believe there was a reason that he and I were together as long as we were. I challenged him like no one else did. The problem was that he and I were too much alike, but we didn’t want the same things. We didn’t complement each other. I can already see that the two of you do, however.”

Felicity took a deep breath, still very doubtful that Laurel was right about the situation, but willing to just go along with it. Especially if it meant that they could change the subject. Fortunately, she was saved by the timely arrival of Oliver and Tommy. She felt their presence first; well, Oliver’s presence as his hand gently came to rest on her shoulder.

He leaned down close to her and asked, “Are you okay?” There was an undercurrent of worry in his voice, but he still seemed in a good mood.

Felicity moved her own hand up to cover his at the same time she turned to look at him. “I’m good. Laurel and I were just having an interesting talk. About girl things. Dresses and make up and stuff.”

“Okay,” he said with a chuckle.

“Hi, Felicity!” Thea Queen’s excited voice broke in before Oliver could respond further.

Felicity spun around to look for Oliver’s sister. The younger woman was dressed very fashionably. Her dress was tasteful, yet incredibly flirty and Felicity envied Thea’s ability to carry off such fashion as well as she did. Felicity then noticed that a dark complexioned younger man stood behind Thea.

“Oh, yeah,” Thea said, “I like to introduce my boyfriend Roy. Roy, this is Felicity Smoak. She is … she works with Ollie at QC. Ollie is constantly telling us stories about how brilliant Felicity is at dinner, so I thought that she should be invited to the dinner tonight. Are you having a good time, Felicity?”

Felicity smiled. She rarely met anyone who could talk as fast as she could, but she realized that Thea could no doubt give her a run for her money. “I’m having a good evening, Thea. Thanks. By the way, I understand I have you to thank for making sure the bar had my favorite wine.”

“I’m just glad that Ollie knew what it was. I was happy to make sure we had some on hand.”

As if talking about it was some sort of a cue, a waiter appeared at the table carrying a new glass of wine for Felicity and another whiskey for Oliver. After handing both of them their drinks, the waiter asked if there was anything he could get the rest of the table. The other four all ordered, including Thea, even though Felicity was sure that Thea wasn’t yet legal drinking age. She noticed that Oliver paid attention to what his sister ordered, but visibly relaxed when she ordered a glass of the same wine that Felicity was drinking. Felicity also noticed that Laurel ordered a ginger ale instead of something alcoholic.

As the waiter moved off to retrieve the others’ drinks, the start of dinner proper was announced and all attendees were asked to find their seats. The announcement concluded by informing everyone that the first course would be served in the next ten minutes. Felicity and the rest of the table moved to take their assigned seats. Just as Oliver unfolded his napkin and started to place it in his lap, the table was surprised to hear the husky voice of another woman behind him.

“Oliver, dear. I’ve been looking all over for you. I had hoped to catch you so that we could sit together at dinner.”

Even before she turned, Felicity could see the woman’s perfectly manicured hands coming to rest on Oliver’s shoulders. Again she felt the impulse to knock them away, and she was beginning to think that maybe she had the right to do so.

Oliver partially turned his head to look at the woman, while Felicity could see both Tommy and Laurel screw up their noses at the new arrival. Behind her she heard Thea mutter, “That’s not going to happen.”

Oliver once again slipped into his distanced-but-polite mode. “I’m sorry, Meredith. As you can see, all the seats at the table have been assigned. Our party is pretty much set.”

“Oh, but I’m sure that …” There was a pause as Meredith leaned over between Felicity and Oliver to look at her name plate. “Felicity here would move to allow me to sit next to you.” Meredith turned to Felicity. “Ollie and I are old friends, Felicity, and it would mean a lot to me,” she said in slick and oily voice.

Felicity was astounded at Meredith’s boldness, but before she could even think of a reply, Thea chipped in from behind her.

“Actually, Meredith, Felicity is a new friend to all of us. I took great care to arrange the seating at each of the reserved tables, and everyone is just where they’re supposed to be. I know that there were some extra seats at each of the non-reserved tables and I’m sure that there’s some people back there that would love to have your company. But I just can’t change the reserved tables at this point.” She finished with a fake sweet smile.

Meredith had one final try in her. “Oliver,” she purred, rubbing her hands over Oliver’s shoulders, hoping that she could somehow convince him to side with her.

“I’m sorry, Meredith, but I really couldn’t override my sister’s wishes. I learned my lesson about doing that many years ago.” He paused before continuing, “More importantly, I wouldn’t move Felicity anyway. She is very important to me and I wouldn’t do that to her.”

The surprised look on Meredith’s face was priceless. Felicity was completely stunned by Oliver’s defense of her, and that was probably the only thing preventing her from laughing at the woman standing behind her. Thea apparently didn’t have that much control, but managed to keep her snickering at a low volume. Laurel and Tommy looked over towards where the orchestra was still playing, obviously trying not to laugh, and when Felicity turned to look at Thea, she saw that Roy had a huge grin on his face.

Meredith said nothing further. She finally straightened her back in hurt pride before spinning and walking off.

Felicity turned back to look at Oliver. His face was stoic, although his lips were pinched a little too tight. She reached out and wrapped her hand around his bicep, which was clenched tightly. She rubbed up and down briefly for a second and she could feel him relax.

“Thank you,” she said, trying to explain how much she appreciated what he’d said through her simple acknowledgement.

He turned and smiled at her. “I’m really sorry. And I really hope that is the last time that happens.”

Laurel leaned over and raised an eyebrow in his direction. “She’s not the only woman to do that tonight, Ollie?”

Oliver sighed and looked at her. His grimace returned, but his arm stayed relaxed under Felicity’s hand.

“No.”

Laurel smiled at Oliver. “Well, Meredith at least deserved that. I think she’s always been that obnoxious.”

Oliver nodded his head. Felicity squeezed his arm again before pulling her hand back. He turned to look at her. He felt like he needed to say something more, but she cut him off with a wide smile. He just shook his head. Any further discussion on the matter was terminated by the arrival of a couple of servers who started placing salads in front of the party.

Thea waited until everyone had a salad and a couple of baskets of rolls had been placed on the table and then signaled that everyone could begin eating. Felicity was impressed with the nonchalant elegance with which Thea slipped into her role as head of the table. Moira Queen had done a wonderful job of instilling the social graces into her children. Felicity suddenly felt woefully inadequate in comparison.

Oliver was apparently just as in tune with her as she was with him. He bumped her shoulder playfully just after she tensed up. Felicity only partially noticed that he had moved his chair closer to her at some point.

“You okay?” he asked softly with an equally soft smile directed her way.

She smiled shyly back. “Yeah. Just got to thinking about too much for a second. I’m good.”

After that the meal continued pleasantly. Felicity was thoroughly impressed with the menu. Everything from the salad through to the main course was delicious and she had to make sure that she held back just a little with a couple of the courses. She had never been one to conceal her love of eating, but the comfortable snugness of her dress reminded her that she really didn’t want to feel stuffed by the end of the meal.

The conversation lightened up as well. Felicity particularly enjoyed watching the interaction between Oliver and Tommy Merlin. Tommy was, in many ways, the opposite of Oliver: much more outgoing, louder, funnier. In between courses, Tommy, Thea and even Laurel shared Oliver stories. Felicity was sure that some of the stories were toned down, but even so Oliver occasionally looked uncomfortable with tales of his younger self. Felicity wasn’t really sure why, but she finally slipped her hand under the table and rested it on his leg. She squeezed his thigh lightly and then left her hand laying there. Oliver glanced at her briefly, and she could feel him relax at her touch. 

Felicity had rarely thought about it, but she realized that she and Oliver touched a lot. When they walked somewhere together, Oliver always had a hand hovering near the small of her back or lightly gripping her elbow. When he visited her office and she showed him something on her computer, he often rested his hand on her shoulder – always the left – while he listened to her. When they sat next to one another in meetings, which was almost all the time anymore, she often would touch the back of his arm to get his attention. And because he tended to get a little wound up during tense moments, she realized that she also would touch him to get him to slow down and refocus before he said or reacted in a way he would later regret.

Maybe Laurel’s opinion wasn’t as far off as Felicity originally thought. She knew that deep down she was in love with Oliver, even though she constantly tried to deny her feelings. She still found it hard to believe that Oliver could feel the same way, but she realized that his actions this evening certainly could be interpreted that way. As the meal proceeded, Oliver relaxed and at one point laid his hand on hers under the table, again lightly squeezing her hand.

They even remained that way during dessert. The meal included a choice of dessert and Felicity had chosen the opposite of what Oliver picked. As they sat there, sharing their desserts, Felicity realized that she and Oliver did the same thing at lunch on a regular basis: shared parts of their meal with each other. A quick glance at both Thea and Laurel showed that they both had probably noticed the rather intimate interaction and were now studiously avoiding looking at either herself or Oliver. Oliver, of course, was oblivious to the whole situation, she was sure. Fortunately for her, her musings were interrupted by the announcement that Moira Queen was going to say a few words.

Moira made her way to the podium at the front of the dining area. Felicity was again impressed with how graceful Moira was no matter what she was doing. If walking gracefully was a competitive sport, Felicity thought that Moira Queen would win a gold medal.

“Would you believe me if I told you that she still practices occasionally?”

Felicity’s head whipped around to look at Oliver, only to find him grinning at her. “I said that aloud, didn’t I?”

His eyes actually twinkled, she thought. “Yeah, you did. Tommy and I actually made fun of her one time. Let’s just say that we never did that again. The woman takes her graceful walking very seriously.”

Felicity just shook her head, thankful that Oliver really didn’t mind her faulty brain to mouth filter. Her attention was quickly drawn to the podium as Moira started her remarks.

“First of all, I would like to thank everyone in attendance tonight. Once again, we have managed to raise an incredible amount of money for the children’s wards at both Starling General and Glades Memorial. This was a project started by my mother, Althea Dearden, nearly forty-five years ago and it has been my privilege to continue her work all these years. I am even happier to add that my daughter Thea has assisted me for the first time and she has made some outstanding contributions to the tonight’s event. She was in charge of the incredible decorations you see adoring the room. She is also primarily responsible for assembling all of the items for the silent auction and I think she did a truly remarkable job.”

Felicity turned to see Thea beaming at her mother’s praise. She became slightly embarrassed when the entire room started clapping for her. Roy reached out and rested his hand on her shoulder at the same time Felicity rested her hand on Thea’s right arm. Thea looked at Felicity with a clear expression of thanks in her eyes.

Once the applause died down, Moira continued. “For the fifth year in a row, we have been able to raise in excess of one and a half million dollars for the hospitals. Sixty percent of the total will go to the children’s wing at Glades Memorial with the rest going to Starling Memorial. As most of you know, both hospitals have established very diverse and knowledgeable committees to help make sure that the funds are used where they are needed the most.

“I want to make a couple of special notes regarding some contributions. The single biggest auction donation came from my son, Oliver, who purchased the single game use of a box at a Starling City Rockets game. I happen to know that Oliver will donate the event to the Boys and Girls Club located in the Glades. Thank you, son.”

There was another round of applause.

“Another donor, who asked to remain anonymous, purchased three items for a total of sixty thousand dollars. My daughter tells me that those three items had the biggest return for their actual value of any of the auctioned items. So again, I want to thank our mystery bidder for their contribution.

“We had several other very generous bidders and while I don’t want to spend a lot of time up here, I want to make it very clear that I personally appreciate your willingness to donate to this extremely worthy cause. All of us have been extremely fortunate and it behooves us to share our good fortune with others who may not have had the same advantages we have had. So again, thank you.”

With that the Queen matriarch stepped down from the podium and made her way back to her seat. The room gave another short burst of applause until the orchestra started playing again. Most of the tables returned to their own conversations and Felicity noticed that a few couples stood up and moved to the dance floor. To her right, she heard Tommy ask Oliver about his bid on the Rockets game package.

“You know I’ve always loved the Rockets. A couple of years ago, I started reserving the box that QC and Merlyn Global jointly own for at least one game and I have the Boys and Girls Club go to the game. I always leave it up to the club’s directors to decide who they take to the game, but they have to make sure that they use most of the box.”

“Do you go to the game with them?”

“I did the first year, but I think I ended up being more of a distraction than anything. I normally don’t go with the club anymore.”

Tommy looked at Oliver in amazement for a couple of minutes. “That’s just incredible, dude. How many days is the box free during the season. I know of another group that I think it would be cool to give an outing to.”

“I think there are usually at least a few days a year where it is open. QC reserves one game a week when the team’s in town and I think MG does the same. The Rockets have the ability to rent the box the rest of the time, although both companies still have priority over another group. There should be someone at MG who handles that kind of thing, but if not, you can always call the Rockets ticket office.”

“Cool. I’ll look into that.”

The orchestra was just finishing up a selection and started playing a song that Oliver remembered fondly from his time in high school. He stood up and reached out to Felicity. “Felicity, would you dance with me?”

“Oliver?” she asked with a great deal of uncertainty.

He smirked just a bit before asking her again. “Would you like to dance?”

She took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. “I thought you didn’t dance.”

He leaned in close to her and told her, “I had no desire to dance with any of those other women. You are a completely different story. I very much want to dance with you.”

“Oh. Okay then.” She allowed him to lead her out onto the dance floor. If Oliver had been confusing her earlier in the evening, this managed to top all of his other gestures. She just chose not to consider anything further.

Oliver picked a spot close to the orchestra and on the same side as the dining area. He swung Felicity around so that she was facing him. His left hand slipped down to her waist while his right took her left in a proper dance grip. Without thinking, she slipped her right hand onto his shoulder. When their eyes met, Felicity’s held a fair amount of hesitancy, but Oliver suddenly seemed more confident than he had been all night.

“I’m not much of a dancer,” Felicity said softly. “And I didn’t practice dancing in these shoes. I just made sure I could walk.”

Oliver smiled at her. “I won’t let you fall. Just follow my lead and we’ll be great.” And with that he began to slowly move them in synch with the music. It didn’t take Felicity long to relax and let Oliver take charge. The song was fairly long, but it was over quickly in Felicity’s opinion. She fully expected that Oliver would lead them back to the table, but he kept dancing, filling the small gap between the different selections with his own music.

They danced for twenty minutes and through five songs. At the start of the third song, Felicity had given in to the moment and moved close enough to Oliver to be able to lay her head down on his chest. She kept her rhythm through a combination of the orchestra’s music and Oliver’s heartbeat.

Oliver stopped them for a second after the fifth song. She pulled back and looked at him. “Oliver, I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed this evening, but I don’t know what all this means. You’ve been an incredible gentleman…” she trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

Oliver looked at her, his gaze growing more focused and intense. She had rarely if ever seen him this determined, although she had no idea what about. He breathed a small sigh before he replied.

“Felicity Smoak. Tonight is me telling you that I love you. I have been in love with you for months and I just couldn’t figure out how to tell you.” Oliver took a deep breath before continuing. “I wake up every morning and the first thing I think about is whether or not there is anything on my schedule that means I’ll get to see you. And if there isn’t, then I start trying to figure what I can use to make sure I do see you. I leave things to do on Saturday mornings so I have an excuse to come in the office, because I know most of the time you’ll be there. Sundays are torture because I rarely have a reason to see you then.”

Felicity was stunned and she was sure her face reflected it. This was one of the few times in her life that she truly had nothing to say. Oliver gave her some space, but kept his eyes focused on her. She could finally see how he felt through his soft yet strong gaze. And she was so overwhelmed she had no idea how to respond.

Oliver finally spoke again. “I know I just sprung a lot on you, and I understand if you don’t feel the same. I’m not much of a catch at this point; I’ve got way too much baggage. And unfortunately, you’ve seen far more of it than I would have liked this evening alone. Will you at least give me this evening and tell me to stop later if a relationship with me isn’t something you want?”

Felicity shook her head. “Oliver, I have been trying to tell myself to not fall in love with you for a long time. It hasn’t worked, by the way, because I haven’t even considered another man for a long, long time. And for the record, you are still very much a catch. I’ve always figured that I wasn’t good enough for you. I’m a pretty simple girl and I figured being platonic friends was as good as it was going to get.”

“No. You are the smartest, nicest, most beautiful and most wonderful woman I have ever met. I am completely serious when I say that just knowing you over the past couple of years has made me a much better man. And I very much want to take our relationship in a non-platonic direction. If you are interested, that is.”

Felicity just nodded her head.

The two of them had slowed their movements on the dance floor. They were technically still dancing, but just barely. Felicity moved close to Oliver and again laid her head on his chest, the beat of his heart calming her.

After a few minutes, Oliver asked her, “Are you okay?”

“Oh, I am very okay. The wine is catching up with me, though. I’m not drunk by any means, but I’m kind of tired. I may have to take a cab to go home.”

“I’ve kind of already taken care of that,” Oliver said.

Felicity looked up at him.

“I had one of the valets take your car home already. I’ll be taking you home in my limo.” He paused, then said, “Your home, not mine. Unless you want to go to my home?” He said the last with a bit of mischief in his voice.

Felicity was a little surprised when she looked up at him. “You planned this out?”

“Sort of. But I didn’t have any ulterior motive. I just knew you’d drink enough that you probably shouldn’t drive and I took care of the arrangements. I really hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t.” They were both quiet for a couple of minutes. “Would you mind if we left soon. The evening is kind of catching up with me and I’m really ready to get out of these heels.”

“No. We can go now, if you are ready. We should probably at least say goodbye to my parents, but otherwise I’m ready.”

They finally disconnected just enough to walk back to the table, but Oliver immediately grasped her hand, intertwining their fingers together. Felicity realized that she loved the feel of her small hand in his much larger one.

“Mom. Dad. I think Felicity and I are going to take off. I’m going to take her back to her place.”

Moira came up to her and gave her a hug. A hug that was far more than just a polite, nice-to-have-met-you hug. “It was wonderful to have met you. Would you please come to brunch tomorrow morning? I want the chance to get to know you better without all the distractions. Oliver knows when we eat.”

Felicity really thought she was done being surprised, but that was apparently not the case. Before she could even reason through a response, she heard herself say, “That sounds lovely. I would like that very much.”

“Great. Then we’ll see you and Oliver in the morning.” She turned to look at her son with a gentle smile on her face. “Thank you, Oliver. You made this a wonderful evening.”

Oliver gave her a quick hug, then shook his father’s hand. Robert said nothing, but nodded at Oliver as if he completely agreed with something Oliver had declared he was going to do. Oliver gently turned Felicity around and they headed for the exit, stopping just long enough to retrieve her belongings from the cloak room. Oliver held on to her as they descended the stairs to the curb, and Felicity briefly wondered when Oliver had called for his driver, because the limo was waiting for them, back door held open as they approached.

As Oliver slid into seat after Felicity, he thanked Rob the driver. Rob nodded conspiratorially, like he was helping Oliver keep some great secret.

Felicity scooted close to Oliver and he threw his left arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight against him. Felicity immediately decided that she really liked the feel of him holding her tight. She turned to look at him and he slowly lowered his gaze to her. She tried to read the emotions displayed on his face, but there was a lot going on at once.

“You’re still up to something, aren’t you?” she finally asked him.

“What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know, but you and Rob look like you have some secret you’re keeping from me.”

The intensity of Oliver’s gaze gave her goosebumps.

“Well, I did get you a present. And Rob made sure he got it moved to the car before we left.”

Felicity glared at him for a minute. “After everything else this evening, you got me a present? Why?”

“Because I wanted to?” Oliver’s reply sounded like a question.

“What kind of present?” Felicity asked before she could stop herself.

Oliver hesitated for a long moment, before he finally said, “You know that wine that you really liked?”

Felicity nodded.

“The rest of the case is sitting in the trunk. So you will be able to indulge for a little while anyway.” He grinned, obviously pleased with himself.

Felicity leaned into him for a minute before finally softly thanking him.

Most of the ride to her apartment was spent in comfortable silence, both Felicity and Oliver enjoying their newfound closeness.

Suddenly, Felicity straightened up somewhat and looked at Oliver. “Oliver, how is us being together going to work if I work for you?”

Oliver smiled again. “But you don’t directly work for me. You report up through Keith Janssen, the CIO.” He paused to let her think about that before continuing, “I checked all of this out long ago. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to have something like this cause a problem if I ever worked up the courage to ask you out.”

“I suppose you think you’re clever, don’t you, Mr. Queen,” she said as she slapped him on the chest.

Oliver shook his head. “Not really. You are far more clever than me, Miss Smoak. And I’m sorry it took so long for me to tell you how I felt.”

“Oliver, seriously, tonight was perfect. I really like how you finally decided to tell me. I have never been romanced like I was this evening.”

Just then the limo pulled to a stop in front of Felicity’s townhouse. Felicity’s hand stayed firmly resting on Oliver’s chest as she continued. “I really don’t want the evening to end just yet.” Her eyes rose to look at Oliver. “I really would like to ask you to stay tonight, but I’m not ready for everything that implies.”

“Felicity, I am okay with whatever you are comfortable with. If that means I get to kiss you once good night and sleep on the couch, then that’s what I’ll do.”

She shook her head at him. “Let’s go in and figure it out together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said in the opening notes, this started as a single scene that I didn't have a spot for in any of the other stories I am writing. Of course, long before completing it, I had started to think about scenes that could proceed the story and a true part two. Let me know if you would be interested in reading more.


	3. You're Surprisingly Comfy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver begin to navigate their new relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next stage in Oliver and Felicity's new relationship.

_Just then the limo pulled to a stop in front of Felicity’s townhouse.  Felicity’s hand stayed firmly resting on Oliver’s chest as she continued.  “I really don’t want the evening to end just yet.”  Her eyes rose to look at Oliver.  “I really would like to ask you to stay tonight, but I’m not ready for everything that implies.”_

_“Felicity, I am okay with whatever you are comfortable with.  If that means I get to kiss you once good night and sleep on the couch, then that’s what I’ll do.”_

_She shook her head at him.  “Let’s go in and figure it out together.”_

Before Oliver could reply, Rob opened the door on Oliver’s side.  Felicity again felt the loss of contact as Oliver slid to the edge of the seat and stepped out.  She was quick to follow him, taking his outstretched hand so that he could help her out of the car.  When she stood up, she saw that the tall blond driver had already opened the trunk and had pulled out a wooden box.  She also noticed that her red Mini was pulled into her normal spot just as Oliver had said it would be.  Not that she had doubted him earlier, but the sight of her beloved car made her feel just a little more relaxed for some reason.

“Would you like me to bring everything up for you, sir?” the driver asked.

“How much is there?”

“Two cases of the wine, plus the other box.  I also have your overnight bag, if you’d like.”

Oliver hesitated for just a second.  “Go ahead and bring all of it.  I can take at least one of the wine cases.”

Felicity looked at him quizzically, but he shook his head at her.  “I’ll explain in a minute.”

Oliver turned back to Rob.  The other man handed Oliver a medium size duffle bag that he promptly looped over his head, before taking one of the cases of wine.  The box wasn’t overly big, but looked to be a bit awkward to carry, Felicity thought.  She watched as Oliver settled the case into a comfortable position, then he flexed the arm closest to her, silently indicating that she should take his arm with her hand.  She did so, and the two of them walked up the sidewalk to her door.  Rob followed a few steps behind them carrying another case of wine and a box that was square but fairly thin and wrapped in silver paper with a thick blue ribbon and bow.

When Felicity and Oliver reached the door, Felicity let go of Oliver’s arm to fish her keys out of her clutch.  After a second, she realized they weren’t there.  She looked up at Oliver who was smiling at her.

“They’re in my jacket pocket.  Left side.”  When Felicity raised an eyebrow at him, he simply said “Valet.”

“Oh, yeah.”

It didn’t take her long to grab the keys and open the door.  Oliver followed her in.  She quickly dropped her clutch and keys on the little table to the side of the door and threw her coat on a hook next to the entryway.  She took the wooden case of wine from him and carried it to the kitchen.  Oliver dropped his bag next to the doorway and turned back to see Rob standing in the door.  He took the other box of wine and the wrapped present.

“Thanks again, Rob.  I appreciate your help tonight.”

“No problem, Mr. Queen.  All part of the job.  Do you need me to stay?” the driver asked quietly.

“Let me make sure.  I’m not going to presume anything.”

During their brief exchange, Oliver had felt Felicity come up behind.  She laid her hand on his back and moved to stand to his side.

Oliver turned to look at her.  “Are you sure you want me to stay?”

Felicity looked at him, focused on his eyes.  Her head was just a little foggy, but that was at least as much due to the speed with which their relationship had changed in the last four hours as the wine she had had.  Oliver’s deep blue eyes returned her stare and she could only see affection mixed with curiosity.  She knew immediately that there was no ulterior motive there, no hidden agenda.  That didn’t mean that she couldn’t have a little fun with him though.

“Are you sure you didn’t plan all of this out, Mr. Queen.  It’s a pretty elaborate setup.”  She hoped that Oliver recognized the same tone she used to constantly give him a hard time at work.

He did if the eye roll was any indication.  “The overnight bag is a coincidence.  I keep one in the car because I sometimes need to leave on a business trip at the last minute.   I don’t have time to go home and pack.  So I started leaving the bag in the car.”

Felicity gave him her best ‘I’m not sure I believe you’ look.  She loved yanking his chain as much as he did hers.

He huffed a laugh.  “Do you remember the afternoon about a month ago where I got a phone call from Atlanta?  I cut short our meeting and took off?  I went straight to the airport and took the company jet to Georgia to fix the problem.  That’s why I have the bag in the car.”  Oliver’s face was nearly pleading with her to believe him.

Felicity continued to glare at him for a minute or two.  “First of all: that wasn’t a meeting.  You had once again invaded my office to complain about the security system you have to go through when you log in from home.  Because you had locked yourself out.  Again.  You use the system everyday, Oliver, and yet you suddenly forget how it works?  Really?”  She paused.  “That’s beside the point, isn’t it?”

He laughed.

Finally, she shook her head and looked at the driver.  “You can go, Rob.”  She patted Oliver’s chest and smiled at him.  “Anybody who looks this pathetic has to be telling the truth.”  She turned back to the younger man.  “Thank you for bringing me home.”

Rob grinned a big toothy grin.  “It was a pleasure, Miss Smoak.  I hope you both have a good rest of the evening.”  He looked back to Oliver.  “Will you need a ride in the morning?”

“Yes.  Pick us up around ten fifteen.  We should be able to make it back to the house in time for brunch.”

“Yes sir.  I’ll see you then.”

With that, the tall blond turned and headed down the sidewalk to the car.  Oliver reached over and shut Felicity’s door, turning the lock and throwing the deadbolt that sat above it.  When he turned back to Felicity, she wrapped her arms around his chest and snuggled into him.  He tentatively wrapped his own arms around her shoulders and back, but didn’t relax completely.

“I knew why you had the bag in the car, silly,” she muttered into his chest.  “You’ve explained why you keep it in the car before.”

Oliver huffed another laugh and relaxed fully, his arms finally pulling her close.

She didn’t look up at him, but her next words were spoken more clearly.  “Does it seem that things are moving really fast, Oliver?

He considered how to answer her question.  “I suppose so, but at the same time, it feels like we should have been here a long time ago.”

“Yeah, maybe so,” she agreed.  She pulled away from him, but didn’t go too far.  She kept one hand resting on his side.  “Do you want a glass of wine?  I could go for a little more.”

He reached for her and pulled her back close, resting his free hand on her cheek.  When she looked back up at him, he lowered his face to her, stopping just before their lips made contact.

“There’s something else that I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”  He kept his gaze locked for hers until he finally asked, “May I?”

Felicity was barely able to get “Uh huh” out before Oliver had closed the gap.  The kiss was gentle and Oliver kept it chaste.  He pulled back after a minute to look at her again.  She returned his look through her own unfocused eyes.

“Yeah, that was waaaay overdue,” she finally muttered, dropping her head against his chest.  Oliver chuckled softly.

“How about that wine?  The bartender may have put the opened bottle back in one of the cases.”  He slipped off his jacket and hung it on a hook next to the door.  He then picked up the second case that was sitting on the floor and followed Felicity into the kitchen.  He noticed that she took off her heels and threw them off to the side, not really caring where they landed.  The case sitting on her island was still sealed, so she reached for the case in his arms.  He sat it on the island as well.  When she pried off the lid to this box, she found the mostly empty bottle of wine that had been opened at the dinner.

“It looks like there’s enough for a small glass for both of us.  Is that okay?”

“Yeah.  I’ve never been a big wine drinker and it’s late enough, I really don’t want too much more alcohol.”

Felicity had turned to grab two wine glasses from a cabinet above the counter.  She smirked, even though Oliver couldn’t see it.  “Didn’t you use to be a big drinker?”

He wasn’t smiling when she turned around.  “‘Used to be’ is the operative term here.  I figured out even before I graduated from college that I didn’t like what happened when I drank.  A couple of my particularly stupid run-ins with the cops looked really bad in the harsh light of morning.  It was much easier than most people think for me to kick that habit.”

“You’re lucky then.  I saw just enough of people who couldn’t change when I was growing up in Vegas.  Mom really didn’t date much, but she tended to attract the guys with habits: drinking, gambling, women.  When I was old enough to understand those kinds of things, that was just something else that became a point of contention between us.”

“You mentioned that you and your mother don’t always get along earlier tonight.  Are you really that different?”

Felicity took a couple of minutes to consider her answer, moving the two of them over to the couch in the living room to give herself some time.  She and Oliver had spent enough time together over the last couple of years that they had talked about things outside of work like family and hobbies, but it had been heavily slanted in Oliver’s favor.  He tended to be pretty open about his family, both good and bad.  Felicity had shared stuff about the things she did outside out work, but she had rarely talked much about her family.  Her mention of her father earlier may have been the first time she had ever told him anything that significant about her family.  But now, if they were really going to pursue a relationship, she was neither surprised by his question nor her own desire to answer him.

“Our relationship is probably as good as it’s been since I started middle school.  Maybe?  Despite the fact that her own marriage had pretty much crashed and burned, Donna Smoak is pretty traditional in her belief that marriage is the proper life choice for women.  I don’t know if that’s her Jewish heritage or something else, but she has always wanted me to find a man and get married.  By the time I was in eighth grade, I was already a year ahead of where I was supposed to be academically, but I was way behind socially.  She was harping about boyfriends long before I was ready for that.”

“Oh.  And you don’t want to get married?” Oliver asked somewhat hesitantly.

She looked at him.  “It’s not that.  I would like to get married and have children.  But I still want to pursue my career goals as well.  I’m doing the career part obviously, but you would think that I was a spinster to hear my mother talk.  I’m twenty-three and she thinks I’ve wasted my best years.”

Oliver chuckled, “I can assure you that that isn’t the case.”  That earned a half-hearted glare from Felicity, but it didn’t last long.

She opened her mouth to say something else before the strangest look came over her face.  It obviously concerned Oliver, because he hesitantly asked, “Are you okay?”

She shook her head, “Yeah.  I just had a really disturbing thought.”

“Okay?”

“I just pictured the conversation where I tell my mother about us.”

“And that’s disturbing?  I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

“Oh, nothing about you.  It’s just she’s going to be so over the top.  There’ll be screaming and probably some inappropriate comments and then maybe more screaming.”

“Really.  She doesn’t even know me.”

“Ol-i-ver.”  She drew out the syllables of his name.  “She certainly knows who you are.  Your tabloid history may not have made much of an impression on me, but my Mom loves that stuff.  Even the stories about your worst antics usually resulted in comments about how good looking you were and that you just needed a strong woman to straighten you out.”

Oliver rolled his eyes over that.

“She also knows that we know each other.  The screaming will be because she’s excited we’re together.  Every time she sees a picture of you on some magazine, she texts me and asks if I’ve . . . I believe the last time she asked if ‘I’d gotten some of that yet.’  I’m telling you that she’s completely inappropriate.”

Felicity was watching Oliver’s face and the last comment had him trying to conceal a smile.

“Stop it.  You’re not supposed to enjoy my discomfort.”  Felicity reached out and slapped his arm.

Oliver looked down at his wine glass.  “You do realize that there’s probably going to be a picture of us from tonight, right?  There won’t have been any paparazzi there, but Mom always invites a couple of official photographers and a legitimate reporter or two.  If they hung around long enough, I can almost guarantee there’s a shot of us dancing.”

Felicity’s eyes grew wide.  “You really think so?”

Oliver was obviously trying not to smile, but he eventually gave in.  “Yeah.  I can’t wait to see the picture.  And depending on the reporter, we may have been considered the highlight of the evening.  So that may be the picture on a legitimate news outlet.”

She rolled her eyes.  “So you think I should call her now?”

“It might head off some questions.  Assuming I understand your relationship with your mother correctly.”

“Yeah, I think you do.”  Felicity pushed off the couch and went back over to hall table and pulled her phone out of the small clutch.  She activated the phone and flipped through the contacts as she walked back over to the couch.  As she sat down, she muttered to herself, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”  She placed the phone on the table, pressed the call button and then the speaker button.

The phone rang four times before picking up.  A voice slightly higher pitched than Felicity’s said, “Hi, baby!  How was the charity dinner thingy?  You did go, right?  Was that hunk Oliver Queen there?  Did you at least get to dance with him?”

“Mom…”  Felicity looked up and saw that Oliver was already grinning.

“What did you wear?  You did wear something that would knock his socks off, right?  Please tell me you dressed for it?

“He didn’t have a date, did he?  The gossip columns keep saying that he’s very single.  Did you at least get to say hi?  Cause you’ve said you know him, right?”

“Mom!” Felicity almost shouted.  That got Donna Smoak’s attention.  “Mom, first of all, if you’ll stop asking questions for a minute, I’ll tell you about the dinner.  Second, you are on speaker phone.”  Felicity took a deep breath.  “That’s because Oliver is sitting right here next to me.”

Felicity had hoped, really hoped, that what happened next wouldn’t happen.  She knew better, though.  Donna Smoak screamed.  Loudly.  And for a long time.  Felicity looked up at Oliver to find him laughing out loud now.  When she glared at him, he raised his hands as if to say ‘What, I can’t help it.’

Felicity knew enough to just let her mother go for a minute or two.  She finally yelled at the phone, “Mom!  Can you stop for just a minute?  Please.”

Donna had to take a deep breath before she spoke again.  “I’m sorry honey.  But this is so exciting.”  There was a pause and when Donna spoke again, her voice had gotten more breathless.  “Hi Oliver.”

“Hello, Ms. Smoak,” Oliver said warmly.  Felicity rolled her eyes, which she realized she was now doing a lot.

“Oh, please, Oliver.  You must call me Donna.”

Oliver almost laughed again when Felicity rolled her eyes again at that.

“Mom, as Oliver just pointed out to me, there’s a good chance there were pictures taken of us tonight at the dinner.  I didn’t want you to find out that we were dating from one of those tabloids you read.”

“I never read the tabloids, honey.”  Donna said with absolutely no trace of the lie in her voice, despite referencing them just a minute earlier.

“Yeah, right mom.  Didn’t you just tell me a couple of weeks ago that you always scan the tabloids at the market to see if I’m in a picture with Oliver?”

“I don’t remember saying that.”

“Well, you did.”

There was a pause and then Donna continued, “Wait a minute, baby.  Did you just say that you and Oliver are dating?”

Felicity laughed along with Oliver this time.  “Took you long enough to pick up on that,” she said.

Oliver added, “Yes, Donna.  I am dating your daughter.  I made sure that she had a wonderful evening tonight.  I bought her expensive wine and everything.”

“Oliver!” Felicity exclaimed, but there was no heat to it.

“He was a perfect gentleman, Mom.  And yes, I got to dance with him.  Several songs, actually.”  She looked at Oliver lovingly as she said that last part.  “We think that’s there a decent chance there’ll be a picture or two on the news.”

“Ooooh, I want to hear all the details, baby.”

“I know, Mom.  But how about I call you tomorrow evening.  I can’t fill you in on everything with Oliver sitting here either laughing or staring at me.”

“Okay, baby.  I can’t wait.  I’ll talk to you then.”

“Wait, Donna.  There is one other thing,” Oliver said, surprising Felicity.  “Felicity, you need to go get the wrapped box.  There should be an envelope on the top.”

Felicity shot him a strange look before she got up to grab the box.  When she picked it up, she found that while it was big and heavy, it wasn’t as heavy as she thought it might be.  She sat the box down next to her as she sat back down and pulled the envelope off the box.  She looked back at Oliver curiously.

“You should open it,” he encouraged.  To the phone he said, “I happened to see a couple of things in the silent auction that I thought Felicity might enjoy.  I’m having her open one now.”

“Oooh.  What is baby?” Donna asked.

Felicity tapped the end of envelope on the coffee table then ripped the other end off.  She pulled the folded paper out and opened it, taking a minute to look it over and then went back and read it more carefully.

When she finished, she could only look back at the man sitting next to her and whisper his name.  He just shrugged in response.

“What is it, Felicity?  You’re killing me, here.”

“Mom.  Do you remember when you and I used to talk about going to one of those day spas in Vegas and treating ourselves?  You used to call it a ‘fancy dream’”

“Yes?”

“Well, Oliver apparently just made that possible.  I’m holding an all-expenses-paid certificate for a visit to a very exclusive spa here in Starling.  For two.”

Donna squealed.  “Really?” was the only thing out of her mouth when she finally spoke again.

Oliver then said, “Donna, I’d like for you to arrange some vacation time soon.  Maybe during Hanukkah   I’ll fly the jet down to Vegas and bring you back and you and Felicity can enjoy the holidays together.  Including this trip to spoil yourselves at the spa.”

“Oh, Oliver.  I don’t know what to say.  Thank you.  Thank you.”

Felicity just stared at the man in front of her.  She was really astounded by this gesture, even though she knew he had been very curious when she had looked at the trip at the auction.

“Yes, Oliver.  Thank you very much,” she almost whispered to him.  “Well, Mom.  I guess we’ll plan some vacation time tomorrow night, too.”

“Oh, baby.  I can’t wait.  Thank you again Oliver.  I’ll leave you two to the rest of your evening.”  Donna finished with, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Felicity!”

Felicity and Oliver barely heard the call disconnect.  Felicity just kept staring at him.

“I can’t believe you did that, Oliver.”

Oliver just shrugged.  “It seemed like something that you would really enjoy, Felicity.  I hope I didn’t overstep inviting your mom.  I just think family’s important and maybe ... I don’t know, maybe this will give the two of you a chance to reconnect.”

Felicity shifted herself up on her knee so that she could move closer to Oliver, laying the certificate on the table as she moved.  She put both hands on the sides of his face and moved in.  Oliver’s hands immediately went to her waist to steady her.  There was no hesitation as she kissed him.  This time they both held the kiss for as long as they could.  They pulled apart only when the need for air became impossible to ignore.  Felicity felt stunned, overcome with emotion.  Oliver couldn’t take his eyes off of her, but the small smile belied his happiness.

“Yeah, this is going to make working with you at the office impossible.”

Oliver laughed again.

“Why don’t you open the other present?” Oliver suggested, relaxing his grip on her so that she could sit back down if she wanted.

She sat back on the couch, but was much closer to him than she had been previously.  She slid the box close to her and then placed it on the coffee table.  Oliver automatically shifted the wine glasses and her phone out of the way.

“This is kind of heavy, Oliver.  I didn’t see any tech on any of those tables, so I’m not sure what it could be.”

“That’s why you should open it.”

Felicity grabbed the blue ribbon looped around the box and pulled it off.  She grabbed the silver paper where it was taped along the top of the box and ripped it off.  The box underneath was also silver and blue and showed a stylish outline of a menorah printed on it.  Felicity threw a glance at Oliver of equal parts curiosity and astonishment.  Then she used a finger to break open the taped flaps along the top of the box.  Oliver had grabbed the sides of the box, so once the flaps were open, Felicity reached in the box and pulled out the menorah.  She carefully sat it down on the table in the same spot the box had been, Oliver having put the box off to the side.

“Oh, Oliver.  It’s beautiful.  I can’t believe you did this.  Thank you doesn’t come close to telling you how much I love this.”

“Just knowing that you’ll enjoy having it and will appreciate it is enough.  You don’t have to say anything else,” Oliver said softly.  “The moment you saw it, I knew I wanted you to have it.”

Felicity scooted the rest of the way over on the couch, closing the gap between the two of them until she was essentially glued to his side.  They moved so that they were both sitting back on the couch and just enjoyed their closeness.  It was one of those rare instances where Felicity knew there was no need to say anything.

They sat like that for several minutes until Felicity really started to feel the effects of the wine and the evening.  She decided to get up and change clothes before she flat out fell asleep.  As she started to get up, something else occurred to her.

“You weren’t the anonymous buyer who bought the three items, were you?”

Oliver didn’t reply except for raising one eyebrow.

“Oliver!  If that was you, the other present better not have been for me.  The menorah and the spa are too much already.”

“Stay there for a minute,” Oliver said as he got up.  He went over to his jacket and fished around in the inside pocket for a second.  He pulled out another wrapped box, this one adorned with a rich green paper and a gold ribbon.  He returned to the couch and took up his spot next to her.

“This is also for you,” he said as he handed her a smaller box.

Felicity stared at him, not really sure what to think anymore.

“Oliver, I really can’t believe you did this.”

She pulled the ribbon off the box and grabbed a corner of the wrapping paper.  She pulled hard enough the paper all came off in one yank.  It was obviously a jewelry box; the box was covered in a rich purple velvet and was about three by four inches in size.  She looked at it in surprise, not really believing that he had gotten her jewelry.  Then it dawned on her exactly what he had gotten her.  She pulled open the lid to find the earring and bracelet set she had fallen in love with on the auction table.

“You shouldn’t have done all this.  What would you have done if I didn’t say yes?”

“That wouldn’t have changed a thing, Felicity.  These gifts are not about me trying to buy your affection.  I would never do that.  This is me getting you something that I know you would never get yourself.  These are things that I think you deserve Felicity.  And I wanted to do this for you.  I’m really glad you feel the same way about me that I feel about you – well, I think you do, anyway – but this is me expressing how much just your friendship means to me.”

Felicity again moved so that she was plastered to Oliver’s side.  He threw his arm around her and the two of them just sat enjoying the other’s company.  After a couple of minutes, she again stood up.

“Okay.  Well, before I fall asleep, I’m going to go slip into something more comfortable.”

She started to walk away, but then spun around.  “I didn’t mean that exactly like it sounded.  This isn’t some old movie, so I’m not going to go put on some sexy night gown to tempt you with.  I’m not even sure that I have a sexy night gown.  That’s probably something that you would enjoy, though, isn’t it?  Well, not tonight.  It’s comfy pajamas for me.  I’m not making this any better am I?”

Oliver smiled.  Felicity had realized somewhere during the evening that Oliver had a smile that he used only with her.  The first few times she had seen it, she was sure he was laughing at her, but he never acted that way.  Instead she now knew that he really did find her babbles somehow endearing, which was probably good since he had heard more of them than anyone else.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll put on some sweat pants and a t-shirt while you’re doing that,” was Oliver’s response.

“Okay, yeah, that will probably be good.  The guest bathroom just off the hall.”  She pointed toward the hall that lead off the living room.  “I’ll be back out in a few.”

Felicity turned and kind of hurried away to her bedroom.  She closed her bedroom door and leaned against it, just trying to center herself.  She still found it amazing that after everything that had happened tonight, she could still be surprised by Oliver.  When they had just been friends and co-workers, Oliver already had the ability to completely fluster her.  Now, when he was intentionally showing her how he felt, she had absolutely no clue how to handle him.  It’s like she was falling into a bottomless pit and he was the only thing keeping her tethered to reality.

She shook her head to clear it a little and moved to change her clothes.  She took off her gown and draped it over the chair that sat in the corner of the bedroom.  Turning to her dresser, she pulled out her Doctor Who TARDIS sleep pants and a light blue tank top and headed into her bathroom.

She quickly pulled out the few bobby pins holding her hairdo together and shook her hair out.  She debated for a second, but decided to remove her makeup.  Even given the fact that she had done more with her eyes than normal, she still wore relatively little makeup, especially when considering a couple of the women who had approached Oliver this evening.  The task only took a few minutes to complete.  She finished cleaning up as she normally would.  She then pulled on the tank top and sleep pants and gave herself a once over in the mirror.

For just a minute, Felicity panicked.  The memory of all those other women approaching Oliver earlier ate at her insecurities now more than they had in those moments at the dinner.  Those women had all been beautiful and poised and confident.  Overly confident, Felicity supposed, given the fact that Oliver had barely given them the time of day.  Instead, he had spent the entire evening with her, romancing her.  That had to say something, she told herself.

Now Felicity knew that she was pretty; after all, she was Donna Smoak’s daughter, but it had taken her a long time to accept that fact.  She hadn’t had access to nice clothing and all the other things that teenage girls wanted when she was growing up.  Her mom had worked a lot so they didn’t really suffer, but there were no luxuries.  Being nerdy and more interested in intellectual things like books and computers, meant that she didn’t really bother with her looks in school.  By the time she was finishing high school, two years early no less, she had already started adopting a goth look.  That impulse only grew when she went to MIT, and seemed to be a natural outgowth of her rebellious attitude.  She really never questioned her choices about her looks and her friends until her idiot boyfriend got himself arrested for some truly stupid hacking.  That had made her realize that she didn’t like the darkness she had surrounded herself with and she changed herself.

So now, Felicity found that she much preferred being blonde like her mother and wearing pretty, bright clothing.  She knew that her outlook on life had never really changed.  Even during her most rebellious times, she was never negative.  But now, she outwardly reflected her positive attitude.  And she was really happy with the person she was and where she was in her life.

As she looked back up at the mirror, she realized that she had nothing to worry about with Oliver.  She knew the man well enough to know that there was no lie in the way he had treated her that evening.  If she was being honest, she knew that she had ignored all the signs he had been giving her over the last year as much as she had ignored her own feelings.  Well, not anymore, she decided.  She was going to fully embrace where they were going.

With that, she nodded her head a final time in affirmation and left the bathroom and her bedroom to find Oliver.  When she reentered her main room, the man in question was sprawled out on the couch.  He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a “Property of Starling City Rockets” t-shirt.  His head was propped up on a pillow on one end and one foot was up on the leg of the couch, the other foot resting on the floor.  His arms were loosely crossed over his stomach.  For a minute, she thought he was asleep.

She called his name softly, not wanting to wake him up if he had fallen asleep.

Instead, his eyes opened and he looked at her fondly.

“I thought maybe you had fallen asleep back there,” he said with a little laugh.

“Nope!”  She hesitated.  “I … I had a little moment of doubt.  It still seems a little unreal, the two of us.  But then I remembered how wonderful you’ve been all night and I realized that it is real.”

She walked over towards him turning the lights out as she went.  By the time she reached the end of the couch, she had left only a single table lamp on and the room was almost dark.

Oliver stretched out an arm for her.  “Come here, you.”

Felicity walked over to the couch, joining her hand with Oliver’s outstretched one as she got close.  He tugged on her and, without really thinking about it, Felicity climbed on top of him.  They ended up in an intimate position but it felt completely natural to be like this with him.  Once settled, she locked eyes with him.  His gaze was clearly affectionate, yet she could tell he was thinking.

“I told you earlier that you are the best woman I have ever known, in every way possible.  I don’t want you to ever doubt my sincerity about this.  About us.  This is what I want and I don’t see that ever changing.”

She smiled at him.  “I know, Oliver.  And it was because of you that I was able to shake off my doubts.  I’m not always as sure of myself as I try to project, but I already get this.  I get us.  Now that I’ve thought about it, I’m surprised we didn’t get here earlier.”

Oliver wrapped both arms around her.  “Yeah, I know.  You aren’t the only one who has some insecurities, you know.  Now that we’re here, though, I think we make each other better.  I know that you make me better.  In so many ways, I don’t know where to start listing them.”

She laughed softly and laid her head down on her chest.

“You okay?” Oliver asked her softly.

“Yeah, I’m really good.  You’re surprisingly comfy.  I’m just going to lay here for a minute.”

They were both quiet for a while.  Felicity could feel Oliver running one hand softly up and down her back.  The heat from just his hand and the motion further relaxing her.  She knew she needed to get up, but she was far too comfortable.  She could also feel him occasionally kissing the top of her head.  She hummed with satisfaction at that.

“So.  Breakfast with your parents in the morning?”  She whispered the question to him as she was obviously falling asleep.

“Brunch,” he clarified.  “My Mom thinks that’s classier.  So yes, but we don’t have to be there until eleven.”

“Good,” she mumbled.  “Eleven’s good.”

Oliver knew she was pretty much out.  He pulled the blanket draped across the back of the couch down and over the both of them.  He joined her in sleep a couple of moments later, more relaxed than he had been in a long, long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all of you who commented and offered kudos on the first (two) chapters of this story. It really was meant to be just a one shot, but your encouragement lead me to add chapter three. I think there will be one more chapter detailing Moira's brunch. I also have almost five introductory pieces that led up to the dance done.


	4. You Two Look Ridiculously Good Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver (finally) make to brunch with Moira, Robert and Thea at the Mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After way too long, I have finished this story. Full explanations and other news in the notes at the bottom.

“Uuuggggh. Make. IT. Stopppppppp!”

The sound intruding on Felicity’s sleep was the most annoying noise she had ever heard. At least that was what her struggling consciousness was telling her. She wanted the noise to stop. Now. Posthaste.

Felicity didn’t really do mornings. Especially on weekends. She was pretty sure this morning was a weekend morning.

Unfortunately, the noise wasn’t stopping and she was being dragged out of her sleepy state. Rather rudely, she thought. Aside from the noise, she also noticed that she was warm. Really warm. A lot warmer than she normally would have been wrapped up in her blankets in her bed. She also realized that she definitely wasn’t in her bed. Whatever she was laying on was harder than her mattress. And warmer. Yet she could feel softness at her back.

She resolutely kept her eyes closed even as her mind registered more and more of her surroundings. She kept hoping that she would fall back asleep, but every passing minute further convinced her that that probably wasn’t going to happen. Because of the noise and the heat.

Suddenly the buzzing noise was joined by the sound of something hitting the ground with a soft thud and then a barely audible, “Crap!”

The masculine voice way too close to her head is what finally forced her eyes to snap open. To be met with the bright blue eyes of … Oliver Queen.

It took only a second for her brain to catch up at that point. She and Oliver had come back to her place after the charity dinner. There had been kissing and presents and some mild awkwardness that quickly went away and then more kissing. Then she had changed into pajamas and had lain down on top of Oliver and ... She realized she had fallen asleep on Oliver Queen last night. And apparently spent the night sleeping on top of him.

She shifted her eyes around a little to see where she was. Everything was fuzzy of course. Duh, no glasses! But she could tell that she was still on the couch. Instead of being on top of Oliver, she had slid sideways so that she was wedged in between Oliver and the back of the couch. He must have pulled the blanket down on top of them. Between that and Oliver’s body heat she felt as if she were in a steam room.

Dimly, she registered that the noise had stopped.

“Good morning,” Oliver said in a sleep-infused rasp.

“Hey.” That got an answering smile out of him.

“I’m hot.” That got a grin.

“I’ve always thought that,” came Oliver’s raspy reply.

It took her a second to catch what she’d said. “That’s NOT what I meant, Mr. Queen.”

He laughed at that.

“I knew what you meant. Did you sleep okay?” he asked, his voice regaining some of its normal timbre.

She really didn’t give it much thought. Despite still not being fully awake, she felt surprisingly rested. “I did. How about you. You don’t look like you’re very comfortable.”

He chuckled. “I imagine my neck’s going to be a little stiff, but otherwise, I slept great. Someone kept me warm.”

Felicity looked away, suddenly feeling a little shy. When she looked back, Oliver was looking at her with his ‘I love Felicity’ look. That’s what she had decided to call it in her head.

“Yeah, I think you’re the one who’s a furnace, mister. I don’t think I have ever been this warm in the morning.” For a change, she could tell that the next statement out of her mouth was probably something she shouldn’t say. At least not yet. But she couldn’t help herself. “Is this what every morning is going to be like?”

Oliver’s eyes opened a little wider in surprise before he grinned the widest grin Felicity had ever seen on his face. “I certainly hope so!”

Felicity just dropped her head into the crook of his arm as he started laughing.

After a couple of minutes, she pulled her head back up and started figuring out how to get up off the couch. Before she got too far away from him, Oliver wrapped an arm around her and pulled so that their faces were suddenly close. He kissed her chastely, taking his time. She relaxed into the kiss immediately. She finally pulled away when she needed to breathe.

“I’m not going to complain if that’s part of the morning routine.”

Oliver just grinned again. This time when Felicity started to get up, Oliver helped her. There were a couple of ungraceful grunts, and one of Oliver’s hands ended up somewhere they were going to need to explore further, but she was finally able to stand up. She held out her hand for Oliver to grab and she pulled him up into a sitting position.

He immediately groaned. “Ohhhh. I was right about my neck.”

He tried rolling his head around to loosen the stiff muscles, but Felicity could tell that wasn’t helping. She turned him around on the couch, so that he was facing away from her, then got behind him and started massaging his neck. She got a little thrill out of his moans as she loosened the stiff muscles. After a few minutes, he finally indicated that she had helped get the worst of it worked out.

“Do you want some coffee?” she asked. She realized that while the two of them knew each other really well, there were still a lot of things to be discovered. Where Oliver stood on the necessity of morning coffee being the first.

“Yes, please. That sounds great.”

Well, he passed that test.

She stood up from where she had been kneeling on the couch and moved to the kitchen. Oliver got up and followed her a minute later. She was already prepping the coffeemaker when he sat down on one of the island stools. Felicity hit the start button and turned around to face him. Taking in his mussed hair and beard and still sleepy eyes, she decided that morning Oliver may be her new favorite version of Oliver. She laughed aloud when another voice in her head told her that ALL the versions of Oliver were her favorite.

“Do I look that bad?” he asked, sudden concern on his face.

“What? No! No, I was just noting that I really like the look of you in the morning.”

“And then you laughed!” he said a little indignantly.

She rolled her eyes. “Then I realized I like the look of you no matter what.”

He raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Let’s just assume that you don’t need to know everything that’s going on up here,” she said, waving a hand around the side of her head. “It’s always a little busy.”

He laughed at that, and Felicity realized that they had already fallen into a very comfortable state around each other. She wasn’t surprised. They already had this at work. And now that they had both admitted how they felt about each other, it was really no surprise that they had it here, too.

“Was that your alarm?” she asked, suddenly remembering the abrasive noise that had first pulled her from sleep.

“Yeah, sorry. I had set it while I was waiting for you. That’s my early morning alarm tone. I forgot to change it.” Oliver shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah, well, we may have to talk about that some more. I don’t know if I can handle waking up to that again. Ever!”

Oliver just grinned.

“What?”

“Weren’t you the one asking if we were moving too fast just last night? Now you want to talk about morning alarm sounds.”

“I … I … Oh, just hush it, mister. I haven’t any caffeine yet, and trust me, the filter is even more defective without it.”

“Just something else for me to love about you,” Oliver said with a smirk.

Felicity opened her mouth to reply, but the coffeemaker signaled that it was done, interrupting her. She turned back to the machine and poured two mugs of coffee. She threw some sugar and creamer in hers, then turned back around and handed Oliver his mug before taking a long sip of her own.

“You know how I like my coffee?” Oliver quietly asked.

“How many times have we had coffee together, Oliver? I know you usually end up buying, but yes, I know exactly how you take your coffee. Since you never drink anything but black, it’s kind of an easy guess, anyway.”

Oliver just nodded as he took another sip.

Felicity glanced over at her clock. “It’s already nine-thirty; we should probably start getting ready if Rob’s going to be here with a car in an hour.”

Oliver mischievously quirked an eyebrow. “Probably forty-five minutes. Exactly how long does it take you to get ready, Miss Smoak?”

Felicity glared at him, but there was no heat behind it. The glare quickly turned into a shy smile. “It really doesn’t take that long for me to get ready most mornings, but I’m having brunch with your mother this morning, Oliver. I don’t even know where to start.”

Oliver waved her concern away. “Brunch is not a fancy affair at the Queen Mansion. Yes, my mother will be dressed nicely, but I’m still wearing a pair of jeans and a casual shirt. You don’t need to wear a dress or anything fancy. Dress so you’re comfortable.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. By the way, have I told you yet how beautiful you are this morning?”

“Really, Oliver? I have no make up on and I’m scared to see what my hair looks like.”

“Honestly? I like you like this more than I do put together Felicity. You don’t really need the make up and I love the natural look.”

Felicity shook her head. “I find that hard to believe, Mr. Queen. Maybe there’s something wrong with you.”

“No. For the first time in my life, everything is right. Really good. This is exactly where I want to be and who I want to be with.”

Felicity moved around the island to stand right next to him. She looked into his eyes for a minute or two, then moved into kiss him again. “Me, too.”

She pulled back far sooner than she wanted to, but knew that if she didn’t things were going to escalate far beyond where they should this morning. Instead she grabbed her half full mug and patted Oliver’s chest with her other hand.

“I’m going to get in the shower. Give me ten minutes or so, then you can get in the guest bathroom shower. I don’t think the plumbing can handle both showers going at once.”

Oliver smiled and leaned over to peck her lips once more. “Okay. Remember, you don’t have to overdress for this. Casual will be fine. And please don’t be nervous.”

Felicity just nodded as she moved away toward her bedroom.

< = = = = = >

When Felicity emerged from her bedroom thirty minutes later, she had followed Oliver’s instructions as much as possible. She was wearing a dark green silk blouse and a pair of black slacks she had forgotten were in her closet until she started looking. A pair of black flats completed her outfit. She had decided to wear the earring and bracelet set that Oliver had given her the night before as her only jewelry. She had also left her hair down, but decided to wear her glasses, comfort winning out over wearing her contacts for several hours the second day in a row.

Oliver had dressed pretty much as promised. He had on a dark pair of Levi’s jeans and a dark red, short-sleeved Oxford shirt on. His duffle bag was sitting on the floor and a garment bag was hanging on a hook next to the door. She assumed that held his suit from the night before.

“Ready?” he asked with a smile. “Rob just texted me to say he would be here in five.”

“Yes. I just need to throw some stuff back in my purse.” She went over and opened the clutch she had carried the night before. She pulled a couple of things out and placed them back into the purse hanging on a hook. She looked back at Oliver and swung side to side. “Will this be okay?”

“Yes. You look beautiful.”

“Are you going to tell me that all the time?”

“I might. Is that a problem?” he laughed.

“No. Just wanted to know if I needed to get used to it or not.”

Just as Oliver replied, “You should get used to it,” there was a knock on the door. He nodded at her before he stepped around her to the door and looked through the peephole. Oliver slid the deadbolt open and unlocked the door, opening it.

“Good morning, sir. Are you ready?”

Oliver nodded and handed Rob the duffle and the garment bag. “Would you take these for me, please?”

Felicity watched as Rob grabbed both bags and started back down towards the car. When she looked back at Oliver he was holding her coat open for her. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and Oliver slid the coat up the rest of the way. When she turned around, he had his elbow cocked so that she could take his arm just as she had done the night before. Felicity decided she really liked this version of Gentleman Oliver. Of course, she did.

The ride to the Mansion was silent for the first fifteen minutes or so. Oliver was quiet, but Felicity could tell he was relaxed. He had pulled her close and had his arm loosely draped over her shoulder. For her part, she was far quieter than normal. For all of Oliver’s assurances, Felicity was still nervous about the impending brunch with the Queen family. She wasn’t worried about Robert or Thea. She figured that Robert knew her well enough that he wouldn’t be surprised by anything she said or did and she kind of guessed that Thea was a fan of her and Oliver being together. The younger woman had been incredibly nice the two times they had interacted.

Despite Moira Queen’s very gracious and friendly attitude the evening before, Felicity imagined that the Queen Matriarch was still going to be in protective mode and would be out to determine if Felicity was really fit to be Oliver’s girlfriend. This wasn’t really something that she’d had to deal with before. She had never met the mother of her one boyfriend in college. Looking back on her relationship with Cooper, she wasn’t sure they would have ever progressed to the meet-the-parents stage anyway. She hadn’t seen it at the time, but Cooper probably hadn’t been the kind of guy to have a long term relationship.

Felicity’s relationship with Oliver was completely different. While she may not have realized it until last night, she could see them being together very long term. Based on how Oliver had been acting, he felt the same way. That meant that she needed to make sure that she and Moira Queen got along. The only problem being that she wasn’t sure she would meet Moira’s no doubt very high standards as an acceptable girlfriend for her son.

“Are you okay?” Oliver asked softly.

“What?” Oliver’s sudden question broke Felicity out of her musing.

“You keep tensing up. What’s going on?”

Felicity briefly considered telling him that everything was fine, but decided that it would be better to be honest with him.

“I’m just nervous about meeting your mother again. I just have this fear that I’m not going to measure up.”

Oliver hugged her tighter. “That’s not going to be a problem. I think Dad and I have convinced her how great you are. If she thought differently, she wouldn’t have treated you like she did last night.”

Felicity looked at him with some disbelief.

“When Dad and I first started telling stories about you, she was highly suspicious. She had watched my stupid antics and serial cheating on Laurel with a very disapproving eye. Outside of Laurel, the only women I dated seemed to be after me for my name or my money. Mom started assuming that every woman was like that. I think two things convinced her that you weren’t. First of all, my father thinks the world of you and has made it very clear how much he respects you.”

“Really?”

“Don’t act surprised. You know how he feels. Secondly, somewhere along the line, she figured out that you are the only woman I have talked about in a long, long time. I have also expressed what I thought of you on a very regular basis, although I’ve never said anything about how attracted I was. Somewhere along the line, I think Mom picked up on the fact that I admired more than just your business and technical skills.” He finished with a grin.

Felicity slapped his chest, but Oliver could feel her relax.

“It’s going to be fine. Trust me, please.”

Felicity nodded her head and stayed close, again enjoying the warmth of Oliver’s body.

Just a couple of minutes later, Rob pulled the town car into the driveway of the Mansion and stopped adjacent to the imposing front entrance. Rob opened the door closest to the entryway and Oliver shifted to exit the car. He grabbed Felicity’s hand as he moved and pulled her along with him. Felicity had barely stepped out of the car when the front door of the Mansion was thrown open. Thea Queen stood there grinning at the new arrivals.

“There’s my new best friend! Hi, Felicity!”

“No one has ever said that my sister wasn’t enthusiastic,” Oliver whispered in her ear. He pulled Felicity along and they entered the house.

Despite working for the company for three years, Felicity had not been out to the Mansion at any point. She was a little overwhelmed as she entered into the large foyer. It was all wood paneling around an open space that most of her apartment could fit into, she thought. It helped to have Oliver right there with her, because otherwise she would have felt completely out of place.

“Let me take your coats,” Thea Queen offered with a big smile.

Oliver helped slide her coat off her arms and handed it to Thea, before removing his own and passing it along as well. He offered her a quiet thank you and she turned to the closet off to the side. As she left, Thea added, “I’ll let Mom know you’re here.

Felicity was waiting for Oliver to direct her where go when Robert Queen came from one of the side hallways.

“Good morning, Felicity. Oliver. I trust the two of you had a good time last evening?”

“Yes. Thank you, Mr. Queen.”

Robert smiled and shook his head. “None of that. It’s Robert, Felicity. Definitely when we’re here, but at work as well. And Oliver’s mother is Moira. She’ll want you to call her that as well.”

Felicity nodded. “Oh. Okay. That’s going to be an adjustment. Old habits die hard and all that.”

Thea’s return prevented any further discussion.

“I just want to point out that the two of you look ridiculously good together.”

“What?” Felicity took a quick look at what she and Oliver were wearing, trying to figure out what Thea was talking about.

Thea waved that morning’s edition of the _Starling City Times._

“The _Times_ photographer got an incredibly good shot of the two of you dancing last night. Even Mom loves the photograph. The story to go along with it is very complementary.”

Despite Oliver’s warning the previous night, Felicity was a little taken aback. She was pretty sure she wasn’t ready to be on the front page of the paper.

“Usually, it’s the Society section.”

Felicity looked at Oliver in response to his comment. “And I said that aloud. Outstanding.”

Oliver gave her a quick squeeze in an effort to calm her.

“May I see that?”

Thea handed her the paper, the younger girl mostly controlling her glee at the situation.

Felicity took the paper and looked at the picture first. The photographer had captured the two of them perfectly. Felicity figured that the picture was taken just as she laid her head on Oliver’s chest the first time. They were close and the shot captured everything: there was still some of the hesitancy visible between them but her shift to just going with the dance was there, too. And this was all before he had told her he loved her.

She shifted her attention to the article to see what the reporter had said.

**_Queen Charity Dazzles Once Again_ **

**_Story by Frank Bauer / Photographs by Cameron Darnell_ **

_For many years, the Queen Family Christmas Charity has been a highlight of the holiday season in Starling City. The charity dinner and auction, for those of you who may be new to Starling City, is now in its 44th year and raises money to benefit the children’s wings at both Starling General Hospital and Glades Memorial Hospital. The event was originally a project of Althea Dearden, whose family helped found Starling City. For the last 25 years, Mrs. Dearden’s daughter, Moira Queen, has been the primary patron and is involved in everything from the initial planning of the event to acknowledging every donation and guest attending the dinner for their contributions. This year marks the first year that Mrs. Queen’s daughter, Thea, has been involved in putting on the event and, if her contributions this year are any indication, Starling’s hospitals will continue to benefit for many, many years to come._

_As in recent years, the combination of donations and proceeds from the silent auction topped 1.5 million dollars. If anyone has any doubts about the Queen family’s personal commitment to the charity, Robert and Moira’s son Oliver was responsible for the single largest purchase of an item in the silent auction: a single game use of the Queen/Merlyn corporate event box for a Starling City Rockets game this coming summer. Oliver has donated the use of the box to the Boys and Girls Club of Starling City for several years so this is just a continuation of his commitment to that charity as well. It is rumored that Oliver Queen was also responsible for the anonymous purchase of three other auction items for a grand total of sixty thousand dollars. There was no confirmation of this, with Thea Queen commenting that the buyer requested full anonymity._

_Oliver was also responsible for perhaps the best moment of the evening. As most Starling City residents know, Oliver is often considered the city’s most eligible bachelor. As of last night, that may longer be true. Oliver spent the entire evening in the company of one Felicity Smoak. Miss Smoak is described as a close associate of Mr. Queen at Queen Consolidated. They have been regularly photographed together over the past year, often at promotional events for QC products and occasionally at charitable events for which Mr. Queen is a patron. One source that asked to remain anonymous said that it was only a matter of time before their close working relationship grew into something more. Based on Mr. Queen’s focused attentions last night, that time has perhaps come. Toward the end of the evening, the two spent quite some time dancing, and while they were always very event appropriate, the connection shared between the two was obvious to all who witnessed it._

When she looked up, Oliver was smirking at her, obviously waiting to hear what her opinion of the article was.

Before she had a chance to comment, though, Moira Queen offered her thoughts on the matter. Felicity had missed her entrance while she was reading. “I thought Mr. Bauer did a wonderful job summarizing the evening, including his observations of the two of you. I have already sent Mr. Darnell a request for several copies of the published photograph and inquired about any other shots he may have taken.”

“Felicity?” Oliver voice was soft as he drew her attention back to him.

“It was a good article. He did a nice job of describing the evening, including our dance. I’m still not sure how I feel about being the subject of a story on the society page, but this one is very complimentary.”

“Mr. Bauer tends to look for the positive side of things. Come, everyone, let’s have brunch.”

And with that, Moira pulled everyone into the dining room.

The Queen family immediately moved to their normal seats. An extra chair sat next to Oliver’s and he held it for Felicity to sit before he took his own. As the family was sitting down, Moira left the room, only to reappear a couple of minutes later with a dark haired lady in tow, both women carrying dishes. They sat the dishes down and the second woman turned to leave.

Oliver called to her, “Raisa, wait.”

She turned to look at him, a small smile on her face.

“Raisa, this is Felicity Smoak. I hope that you’ll be seeing a lot of her from now on. Felicity, this is Raisa. She is our cook and generally runs the house. Thea and I were probably more scared of her growing up than we were our mother.”

Moira actually gave a little laugh from where she stood at her end of the table.

Raisa’s grinned widened, but she gently chided Oliver, “Mr. Oliver, you know that isn’t true.” She turned to Felicity, grin settled to a smile. “It is very nice to finally meet the woman that Mr. Oliver talks about so much. And, despite the fact that he has been very complimentary when describing you, I can see that you are much more than he has said.” She reached out and patted Felicity arm in a very motherly way. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back with the rest of brunch.”

Felicity could feel herself blushing as she turned to Oliver. “What have you said about me?”

“Only good things. You know that.”

Thea nodded her from where she was sitting across from Felicity. “Really, Felicity, it’s true. Even though Oliver has never actually said he was in love with you, there was never any doubt. At least not in my mind.”

Raisa’s return with two more dishes cut off that particular conversation and instead the next few minutes were spent with everyone filling their plates with food. Felicity was amazed at the amount of food available and eagerly sampled everything. Even those foods that she probably wouldn’t have sought out normally turned out to be wonderful. She found that Raisa was an incredible cook, and she made a note to thank the woman before she left.

Once everyone had a chance to take a few bites, the conversation resumed. Robert started by congratulating Thea on her contributions to the previous night’s event. Felicity wasn’t sure she would have believed it, but Thea blushed a little at her father’s compliments. That led to Thea describing some of things she found most challenging about what she had done and how much she had enjoyed herself.

From there, the discussion moved on to touch upon some of the various people that had attended the dinner. Thea and Moira each commented on some of the outfits that various women had worn. For the most part, Felicity noticed Moira tended to remark on those women who had worn dresses that were both beautiful and appropriate, although Felicity had to laugh when she pointed out a couple of the older women who had worn something that ‘they shouldn’t have worn when they were twenty years younger.’

Thea, on the other hand, was a little more fashion-police-like in her commentary. Most of the women – well, girls – that Thea brought up had escaped Felicity’s notice completely, but then Thea turned to look at her brother with a bit of a smirk.

“I’m not even sure what to call that outfit Janelle Stafford was wearing, though. I’m not sure that there was enough material to call that a dress. I know for a fact that her hair color is not something that has ever appeared naturally. I don’t mind tinted hair, but that just didn’t work. Does she even model anymore? ‘Cause I haven’t seen her in anything for quite a while.”

Felicity had laid her left hand on Oliver’s leg at some point. And she had no idea when she had done it, but she became aware of it when Oliver tensed at the mention of Janelle Stafford’s name. She squeezed his leg gently and turned looked at Thea.

“Is this the woman who had really long, bright red hair and was wearing that blue and gold and silver apron?”

Next to her, Oliver snorted.

“Oh my god, yes!” Thea exclaimed. “You obviously saw her. Did she stand out that much?”

Felicity squeezed Oliver’s leg again. “Well, that and she almost assaulted your brother.”

“Oliver?” Moira quietly asked from the end of the table.

Felicity looked to the other end of the table when she heard Robert’s smothered chuckle.

Oliver laid his hand over Felicity’s, although she wasn’t sure whose benefit it was for. “Janelle Stafford was one of my … poorer choices for companionship during the year I was at Stanford. She had less restraint than I did when it came to her social life, but she still became increasingly critical of my choices. And clingy, for some reason. The best part is that she actually ignored me the last time she saw me. It was back here in Starling just before I cleaned up my act. Last night, you would have thought she had been waiting for years to see me again.”

Before she had a chance to think through whether she should really say anything, Felicity added, “I almost slapped her hand when she ran it up your arm.”

“What?” Oliver turned to look at her.

Felicity focused on looking at Oliver, even though she could feel the other three sets of eyes looking at her. She shrugged.

“I wasn’t even feeling particularly possessive at that point. But, boy, was that woman annoying. Was she always like that?”

“Yes, she was. I was just too stupid to see it. She was one of the worst examples of my poor taste in woman when I was younger.”

Felicity yet again squeezed his leg under the table. “Well, it’s a good thing it has improved dramatically since then, isn’t it?”

Oliver looked at her with the soft smile he reserved for her. “Meeting you completely changed my perspective, you know.”

Across the table, Thea snorted. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

Felicity happened to look at Moira just as she smiled and said, “Thea, don’t give your brother such a hard time. He obviously has moved past those days.”

She looked from her daughter to Oliver and Felicity. “I’m very proud of you these days, Oliver. You’ve become a good man. I think Felicity has had a part of that.”

“Mrs. Queen … Moira, I …”

“I’ll admit that I was initially concerned, but I think that is because Oliver has not always been judicious in his choice of … companions. But the more I heard both Oliver and Robert talk about you, I realized that you are nothing like any woman Oliver has ever been involved with. You are obviously far more than any of them, including Laurel Lance, I suspect.

“One of the first times that either Robert or Oliver mentioned you was after the meeting where you called Oliver a scruffy …” Moira paused, obviously trying to remember the story.

Felicity filled in the blank, “A half-witted, scruffy-looking Nerf-herder.”

All four Queens actually laughed. Felicity smiled and shook her head at the recollection.

“Yes, that’s it. My first question was whether or not you had been reprimanded and I was promptly informed that not only had you not been reprimanded, but that both Oliver and Robert expected that kind of honesty from you. It took some time for me to really understand what they meant by that, but I finally got it.

“Of course, what finally convinced me that you were perhaps the perfect woman for my son was Thea telling me about how you stormed into his office a few weeks ago and accused him of screwing up your budget. Thea said that Oliver not only didn’t get mad, but found the whole episode endearing. Her words.”

Felicity looked at Oliver and then turned her gaze to Thea. “Wait. You were there? In his office? How did I not see you?”

Thea grinned. “I was standing by windows when you charged in. You were _focused!_ The whole thing was wonderful. That’s when I decided I might give both of you a little … push? Hence the invitation to the dinner. Obviously, I was right.”

Felicity looked back to Oliver.

“Now you know who our biggest cheerleader is,” Oliver said with a shrug.

Thea rolled her eyes. “The term is ‘shipper,’ Ollie.”

Oliver looked confused. “I have no idea what that means, Speedy.”

Thea and Felicity both laughed. “I’ve already made it my mission to make sure he isn’t completely clueless from a pop culture standpoint. Obviously I have quite an uphill battle,” Felicity told Thea.

Suddenly whatever remaining concern Felicity had for how Oliver’s parents saw her disappeared.

“Thank you, Moira.”

“For what, dear?”

“For everything, I guess. For accepting me for who I am. I can unfortunately guarantee that I will still embarrass myself on occasion. I will probably embarrass Oliver and while I sincerely hope not, I will probably embarrass you and Robert at some point. I have a tendency to say things without getting full approval from my brain and it isn’t always pretty.

“What I can tell you is that …” she paused and looked at Oliver for a second before returning to Moira, “is that I love your son. He has treated me better than anyone else I’ve ever met and he makes me a better person. I never expected this to happen, but I’ve spent so much time working with him that I can’t imagine feeling this way about anyone else.”

Oliver tightened his grip on her hand.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted for him, Felicity,” Moira said.

“Well, that certainly got sappy!” Thea snarked.

“Thea!” the other four said in unison, before breaking into laughter.

After they all settled down again, Robert took the conversation in a more practical direction. “There is something more practical that we need discuss, though.”

“What’s that, Dad?” Oliver asked.

“We need to make sure that we present your relationship in a good light. You are still co-workers and while I know that there is nothing inappropriate about your relationship, I think that we should release something to the press that will answer the basic questions that this morning’s article will raise. We might also want to provide enough bio about Felicity that the tabloids will be less likely to spend a lot of time digging.”

He held up a hand when Felicity went to say something.

“Felicity, trust me when I say you have nothing to be ashamed about in your past. Unfortunately, anything can be twisted and taken out of context. I would rather we get ahead of that, if at all possible.”

“Robert is right, Felicity dear.” Moira added. “The press in this town have long considered our family and the Merlyns to be Starling’s pre-eminent celebrities. It is not something we have sought out, but it is what it is. It unfortunately means that we get a disproportional amount of scrutiny.”

Oliver nodded. “Tommy and I have certainly fueled that desire, unfortunately. The fact that neither of us have done anything remotely scandalous in years has not made the press’s interest go away. I’m sorry for that.”

Felicity considered Oliver’s words. “It’s not like I didn’t know this, Oliver. Last night obviously will shift speculation, but we’ve been linked before. We’ll deal with it.” She turned to Robert. “So what do you have in mind?”

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve already arranged for a couple of the company’s PR folks to join us…” He looked at his watch. “…in about an hour or so. Knowing that you would be increasingly contributing to the company, I had a basic profile worked up for you a while ago. You remember filling out a questionnaire, I imagine.”

Felicity nodded. She hadn’t been sure about the purpose of the form at the time, but she remembered thinking that it was thorough without being too intrusive.

Suddenly something occurred to her. “I kind of hate asking this question, but is my mother going to present any issues?”

Robert answered immediately. “No.”

“Why would she, Felicity?”

Felicity looked back to Moira. “My mother is colorful. To say the least. She is a very hardworking woman, but she works as a cocktail waitress in Vegas. She’s back down to one steady job, but during the time I was growing up, she worked two or three jobs to make sure we got by. She’s the perfect Vegas woman: loud, brash, and way over the top all of the time.”

Moira smiled. “I think I’m really going to enjoy meeting your mother.”

“Really,” Felicity asked, clearly not believing the other woman.

“Yes, dear. Really.”

Felicity turned back to Robert. “I have no problem with the PR team doing their thing. I haven’t really thought much about all this, so I will definitely follow your lead.”

Robert nodded. “Good. Oh, and I suppose there’s one other thing I should mention. Oliver and I have discussed a transition of power at the start of the year. He will be taking over as CEO in January. We had talked doing the transition right at the start of January, but we can adjust the timing if necessary. Or just delay the announcement.”

Felicity looked at the rest of the table before turning back to Robert. “Will Oliver and I being together cause problems with him taking over?”

Robert smiled at her warmly. “Absolutely not. We have been working with the Board for months to make the transition go smoothly, so the people who really matter already know that Oliver is taking over. The press, especially the tabloids, could make something of the timing of both events, but the PR team will be able to make that a non-issue. I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”

Felicity relaxed. She trusted Robert’s instincts. She turned to Oliver and said, “Well, I guess congratulations are in order. Maybe I’ll help you celebrate further a little later.”

Oliver grinned and across the table, Thea laughed.

Felicity’s eyes grew wide when she realized the implication of what she had just said. “I didn’t mean…”

“Relax,” Oliver said soothingly.

“Felicity, would you like a tour of the house? I would be more than happy to show you around,” Moira asked, again surprising Felicity. When she looked at the end of the table, Moira has a relaxed smile on her face.

Felicity felt Oliver squeeze her hand where they still sat intertwined on his leg.

“Yes, that would be nice.”

The two women excused themselves from the table and headed off to explore the house. Felicity had been blown away by the entryway, so as Moira led her through the various rooms on the first floor, she completely lost her sense of perspective. Most of the main floor was aimed at public use. Aside from the ballroom, both Moira and Robert had offices and there was a formal dining room larger than the one where the family had brunch.

Moira also pointed out several of the works of art that hung in the hallways and in strategic locations in the ballroom. Most of them were by American artists, but a couple of Old Masters were prominently featured as well. Moira admitted that she wasn’t necessarily a big aficionado, but Robert had taken some art history courses in college and developed an appetite for collecting. His father and grandfather had similar interests, so the family collection was extensive.

She also pointed out a few antique vases and sculptures situated around the house, mostly in the entryway and the ballroom. Those, she explained, had been a major cause for concern during Oliver’s younger years. He and Tommy didn’t see any difference between playing inside or out and there had even been a couple of casualties to the collection. The loss of the first Ming vase had taught them that some things were more important than material objects. Then she smiled and commented that Tommy had not been concerned in the least about the destroyed vase. Oliver had taken the damage a little more seriously, though.

It was the various stories and reminiscences offered by Moira that finally relaxed Felicity again. The public perception of Moira Queen was vastly different from the woman currently sharing her home with his son’s new girlfriend. Private Moira was warmer and more sociable than her public image led people to believe. She obviously loved her family and while she also loved her home, it was because that was where she spent time with the people most important to her.

They migrated upstairs and Moira showed off several of the living quarters. Most of the rooms were guest rooms, but she did show Felicity both the master suite and Thea’s room. Felicity noticed that she skipped Oliver’s chambers, and Moira made note of it.

“I figured I would let Oliver show you his room. I’m never sure if it’s as presentable as it should be, but more importantly, I know that in the last couple of years, he has done some redecorating so that it better reflects his personality. He should be the one showing you that.”

Felicity just nodded, although she found it humorous that Moira still treated Oliver as if he were a teenager in this instance.

Moira then took the opportunity to move their conversation to a more personal note. “Felicity, I know that you were worried about whether I would like you or not. Hopefully, you aren’t worried any more.

“No. I’m not.”

“Good. I meant what I said during brunch. I have always wanted Oliver to be happy. At times, I have been overly protective. I’ve also questioned some of his choices over the years, but when he finally figured out that he and Laurel weren’t going to ever be a good fit, I realized that he was going to be alright. After that, I knew that he just needed to find the woman who complemented him. You are that woman. I can clearly see that now.”

Felicity shrugged, not knowing how else to take Moira’s endorsement.

“I’m still trying to accept this, I guess. I thought for a long time that Oliver and I were just too different. That our worlds could never mesh. And now that I know otherwise. Wow. Still trying to get my head around it. Does that make sense?”

“It does. You and Oliver are a lot like Robert and I were. Robert, despite the success of the family company, didn’t feel like he and I had a lot in common. He was the first one in his family to go to college and he was uncomfortable with being in Starling’s upper society when we first got married. I had grown up being a part of Starling’s social circle, on the other hand, so it took us a while to relate to one another.”

“How did you meet?”

Moira actually laughed. “My mother, God bless her, realized that I needed to widen my point of view. She made me go to Starling City College and get my degree. I majored in marketing and that led to a job with Queen Manufacturing. Robert and I ended up working together. I imagine your relationship developed in the same way ours did. He went from being co-worker to a friend and then one day I realized that I couldn’t live without him in my life. He felt the same.”

Felicity was quiet, considering Moira’s comparison.

“Felicity, I am not concerned about your background or your mother or any of the other things that you think are somehow negatives. What I see, and admittedly it took a while, but what I see is a young woman who has worked very hard to get where she is. You have earned your position at the company and you have certainly earned Oliver’s love. Oliver accepts you for you, regardless of everything else. That’s the way it should be.”

“Thank you,” Felicity said. “For a long time, I was scared of the risks involved in admitting that I loved Oliver. And, honestly, I’ve been in love with him for a long time. I was hurt before, and I wasn’t sure I could do that again. My mother pointed out that anything worth having is going to come with some risk. She made me realize that sometimes the reward is worth the risk, though. Oliver was in the same place, I think. We have both let our pasts hold us back, but last night we finally got past that.”

Moira nodded. “It sounds like your mother is pretty wise.”

“Yeah, well, she then told me that she would basically act like a middle school girl if Oliver and started dating, screaming in delight included. When I called to tell her that there was a good chance we’d have our picture in the paper this morning, she squealed for like two minutes. She would have gone longer, but I had to yell at her to stop. Your son just laughed.”

Moira actually grinned. “I think I’m really going to like your mother. But for now, let’s go talk to the PR people.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all of you who have been waiting for this for such a long time, I'm sorry. All but the last two pages of this chapter have been written since mid-April. I could not get the last couple of pages to work. I couldn't even get them down on paper. Not quite writer's block, but it might as well have been. I finally decided I wanted to finish it and forced myself to write. I don't know that I'll consider this my favorite chapter, but I finally got it to say something close to what I wanted.
> 
> My goal has been to have this story be as authentic as possible, despite the Hallmark fluffiness of it all. I hope that I have accomplished that.
> 
> The good news, I think, is that I still have ideas for these two. I have some definite ideas for events that pave the way in their relationship and maybe even some post 'Dance' events. There's some other ideas floating around that I'm better off not describing yet, but I don't think I'm done with this version of Olicity just yet.
> 
> I missed including this earlier when I posted, but to whoever first started the "You Two Look Ridiculously Good Together" phrase on Tumblr, this story is for you especially. It just naturally became something that Thea would say!
> 
> Let me know what you think.


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